WO2023158938A1 - Apparatuses, methods and systems for an array of devices - Google Patents

Apparatuses, methods and systems for an array of devices Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2023158938A1
WO2023158938A1 PCT/US2023/062021 US2023062021W WO2023158938A1 WO 2023158938 A1 WO2023158938 A1 WO 2023158938A1 US 2023062021 W US2023062021 W US 2023062021W WO 2023158938 A1 WO2023158938 A1 WO 2023158938A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
devices
terminal
array
vdd
location
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2023/062021
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Sandeep Kumar Gupta
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Zetagig Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US17/672,686 external-priority patent/US11953963B2/en
Priority claimed from US17/676,761 external-priority patent/US12021029B2/en
Application filed by Zetagig Inc. filed Critical Zetagig Inc.
Publication of WO2023158938A1 publication Critical patent/WO2023158938A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L27/00—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
    • H01L27/02—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers
    • H01L27/04—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body
    • H01L27/10—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body including a plurality of individual components in a repetitive configuration
    • H01L27/118—Masterslice integrated circuits
    • H01L27/11803—Masterslice integrated circuits using field effect technology
    • H01L27/11807—CMOS gate arrays
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L25/00—Assemblies consisting of a plurality of individual semiconductor or other solid state devices ; Multistep manufacturing processes thereof
    • H01L25/03—Assemblies consisting of a plurality of individual semiconductor or other solid state devices ; Multistep manufacturing processes thereof all the devices being of a type provided for in the same subgroup of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N, e.g. assemblies of rectifier diodes
    • H01L25/04—Assemblies consisting of a plurality of individual semiconductor or other solid state devices ; Multistep manufacturing processes thereof all the devices being of a type provided for in the same subgroup of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N, e.g. assemblies of rectifier diodes the devices not having separate containers
    • H01L25/065—Assemblies consisting of a plurality of individual semiconductor or other solid state devices ; Multistep manufacturing processes thereof all the devices being of a type provided for in the same subgroup of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N, e.g. assemblies of rectifier diodes the devices not having separate containers the devices being of a type provided for in group H01L27/00
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L27/00—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
    • H01L27/02—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers
    • H01L27/04—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body
    • H01L27/10—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components specially adapted for rectifying, oscillating, amplifying or switching and having potential barriers; including integrated passive circuit elements having potential barriers the substrate being a semiconductor body including a plurality of individual components in a repetitive configuration
    • H01L27/118—Masterslice integrated circuits
    • H01L27/11803—Masterslice integrated circuits using field effect technology
    • H01L27/11807—CMOS gate arrays
    • H01L2027/11868—Macro-architecture
    • H01L2027/11874—Layout specification, i.e. inner core region
    • H01L2027/11881—Power supply lines

Definitions

  • the described embodiments relate generally to electronic devices. More particularly, the described embodiments relate to systems, methods, and apparatuses for an array of devices.
  • Low power supply voltage (as low as 200mV-500mV) may be used for lowering power consumption associated with dynamic power dissipation in integrated circuits (ICs).
  • ICs integrated circuits
  • Such ICs can still, however, be required to support processing of a very high number of computations that consume high power at such small voltages, thereby drawing a very high amount of current.
  • the IR (current times resistance) drops associated with such high currents can be large due to requirements of extra routing. Further, I 2 R power losses associated with these currents can limit the entire advantage of such choice of low power supply voltage.
  • An embodiment includes an array of devices.
  • the array of devices includes each device within the array of devices specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M, , wherein M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2 and N is a positive integer; each device including a Vdd terminal, and a Vss terminal, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal.
  • Figure 1 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to an embodiment.
  • Figure 2 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
  • Figure 3 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
  • Figures 4 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
  • Figures 5 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
  • Figure 6 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
  • Figure 7 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
  • Figure 8 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
  • An embodiment includes an array of devices that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment.
  • each device includes at least one or more of transistors or resistors or capacitors or diodes.
  • the plurality of the one or more of transistors or resistors or capacitors or diodes in the device are configured as an electrical circuit.
  • each of the devices includes a Vdd terminal and a Vss terminal, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal.
  • the SUMXJM-I is the same as the difference in potential between the Vss terminal of device at location (1,M) and potential of Vss terminal at location (1,1), which is hereinafter termed as VSSDIFFM-I.
  • SUMXJM-I may be measured as VSSDIFFM-I, that may be easier to measure than measuring SUMXJM-I.
  • the potential difference between Vdd terminal and Vss terminal is designed to be a static voltage, however it may not be a static voltage in operation of array of devices due to noise and other non-idealities
  • the voltages Xj and SUMXJM-I are designed to be static voltages as well, however they may not be static voltages in operation of array of devices due to noise and other non-idealities.
  • VDD is a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device in the array of devices
  • VDD is a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device in the array of devices
  • majority of the devices in the array may be desired to be substantially similar devices and majority of the devices in the array may have the same VDD potential difference between their Vdd and Vss terminals and for other embodiments, nearly all or all of the devices in the array may be designed to be substantially similar devices and nearly all or all of the devices in the array may be designed to have the same VDD potential difference between their Vdd and Vss terminals for a balanced operation of the array of devices.
  • the array of devices comprising at least a first plurality of the devices in the array of devices, wherein each device in the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices further includes at least one input terminal and at least one output terminal and Zmax number of V_Ter z terminals, wherein z is an index ranging from 1 to Zmax, where Zmax is a positive integer.
  • each of the devices in the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices includes at least one input terminal and at least one output terminal and a Vdd terminal, and a Vss terminal.
  • the Vdd terminal is used to source current to the device and the Vss terminal is used to sink current from the device.
  • each of the devices may have at least one clock as one of at least one input or at least one output terminals.
  • a first plurality of the devices in the array of devices includes Zmax number of V_Ter z terminal and where z is an index ranging from 1 to Zmax, where Zmax is a positive integer.
  • substantially similar devices means that the devices are substantially similar to the extent that all components of the devices are designed to be the same and the number and type of input terminals and output terminals and terminals to source and sink currents are the same on each device, but such devices may not be identical to the extent that such devices may receive different input signals and all components of such devices while designed to be the same, may not be identical at least due to different manufacturing tolerances, different temperatures, different input signals or slightly different voltages to source or sink currents.
  • substantially similar devices may be of different “types” that are classifications of different groups of substantially similar devices.
  • substantially similar devices of type 1 are devices that include 2 extra terminals V_Ten and V_Ter2 in addition to Vdd terminal and Vss terminal and other inputs and outputs terminals
  • substantially similar devices of type 2 are devices that include 1 extra terminals V_Teri in addition to Vdd terminal and Vss terminal and other inputs and outputs terminals
  • substantially similar devices of type 3 are devices that include no extra terminals for which potentials need to be generated in addition to Vdd terminal and Vss terminal and other inputs and outputs terminals.
  • some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 1.
  • some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 2.
  • some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 3.
  • some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 1, some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 2, some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 3.
  • all the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 1.
  • all the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 2.
  • one or more devices in the array of devices may only be a two terminal device, where in the 2 terminals may be a Vdd terminal and a Vss terminal and the 2 terminal device may include only 2 terminal elements like a resistor or diode or include one or more transistors or resistors or capacitor or diodes with their terminals connected to each other in such a way that the device were to have only 2 terminals were to result in the device.
  • the two terminal devices may be used as a minority of the devices in the array and such 2 terminal devices may be different from majority of the devices used in the array, wherein such minority two terminal devices may be used to conduct the current through their terminals Vdd and Vss to balance the voltages in one column by replacing a non-functioning other device.
  • Figure 1 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment.
  • the dashed line in each column of Figure 1 is shown to indicate that there can be more devices in each column than the ones shown.
  • each device within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 is specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M.
  • each device including a Vdd terminal to source current to the device, and a Vss terminal to sink current from the device, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal.
  • the description “plurality of the devices” implies at least 2 or more devices.
  • the first plurality of the devices may be all devices in a column.
  • the first plurality may be all devices in the entire array.
  • Figure 1 shows an embodiment where the first plurality includes all the devices in the array of devices that are further substantially similar devices of type 2.
  • Figure 1 shows an embodiment where the voltage Xj between each column j and (j+1) is same as X.
  • a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j) is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i- 1 ,j) by a substantially same voltage VDD and a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least the first majority of the devices in the array of devices to be a substantially same voltage VDD.
  • the substantially same voltage VDD across all devices Vdd and Vss terminal may be achieved if nearly, or all of the described connections are made for all of the devices in the entire column of the array.
  • the first majority therefore may include all of the devices in the array in an embodiment.
  • M 2
  • Xj when there is only one value of Xj equal to X, and therefore the sum of Xj is designed to be VDD/2 but for defining a minimal condition the sum of Xj is required to be at least greater than 0.25* VDD due to non-idealities.
  • the difference between the Vss terminals of devices at locations (i,j+ 1) and (i,j) is Xj
  • difference Xj may not be exact for values of i greater than or equal to 2, in presence of unequal VDD voltages across various devices in the stack due to mismatches and nonidealities.
  • Vdd terminal For the described embodiments referencing potentials of Vdd terminal, it is to be understood that the potentials of a Vdd terminal or a Vss terminal of any device while desired to be constant, may vary as a function of signal or noise, due to non- zero impedance at the Vdd terminal or the Vss terminal, and the difference of the potential of the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal that defines the VDD of the at least one device may also vary so references to Vdd or Vss terminal potentials or VDD may imply the average desired value of potential of the Vdd terminal and average desired value of potential of the Vss terminal or VDD.
  • At least one of a V_Ter z terminal of a first device in the first plurality of the devices is connected to one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal of a second device in the first plurality of the devices, and at least one of a V_Ter z terminal of the second device is connected to a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal of at least one of the first device or a different device in the array of devices.
  • At least one of a V_Ter z terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of a first device in the first plurality of the devices is connected to at least one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of a second device in the first plurality of the devices, and at least one of a V_Ter z terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of the second device is connected to at least one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of at least one of the first device or a different device in the array of devices.
  • a V_Ter z terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of a first device in the first plurality of the devices is connected to one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of a second device in the first plurality of the devices, and at least one of a V_Ter z terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of the second device is connected to a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of at least one of the first device or a different device in the array of devices
  • the first device and the second device and the different device can be in any location in the array of devices and the connections of the described embodiments may be done for one or more other devices in the array of devices.
  • the V_Ter z terminals are connected to Vss or Vdd to generate the voltages for V_Ter z and also provide balanced currents to each of the V_Ter z terminals.
  • the majority of devices refers to at least a greater than 50% of the devices and may include all of the devices in the array in some embodiments.
  • each of the voltages Xj may be a substantially same voltage X that may be chosen to be the smaller of (a) the difference between the potential of the V_Ten terminal and Vss terminal or (b) the difference between the potential of the Vdd terminal and the V_Ten terminal.
  • the embodiment of Figure 1 shows only the Vdd, Vss and only one of the many possible extra voltages V_Teri to be generated.
  • the first plurality of devices with extra V_Teri terminal includes all the devices in the array.
  • the first plurality of devices may include several V_Ter z terminal potentials that represent one or more of raised Vss voltages or one or more reduced Vdd voltages or one or more reference voltages as may be desired on any device with a smaller step granularity compared to VDD.
  • each device includes of input(s) and output(s) to perform intended functions and likely at least have at least one clock source and other signals as part of input(s) and output(s) but such input(s) and output(s) and clock(s) are not shown in the Figure 1-6 for clarity.
  • substantially same voltage of the described embodiments is meant to be a voltage that is desired and designed to be the same voltage by the connections described, in the absence of any practical undesirable manufacturing deviations or difference in input vectors or temperature differences or any other practical non-ideal effects of implementation that cause either each of such designed device voltages between Vdd terminal and Vss terminal to differ from the desired VDD voltage, or if all of Xj voltages in an embodiment are designed to be the same the difference in Vss Terminals between devices (i,j+l) to (i,j) to differ from desired substantially same voltage X, (or in staggered 3 dimensional array embodiment from desired voltage W, if all of Wj voltages in an embodiment are designed to be the same).
  • the differences of the potential difference between Vdd terminal and Vss terminal from the desired VDD can be adjusted by adjusting input vectors and/or input clock frequency as among a few exemplary parameters. This is because for at least some embodiments, changing input vectors or input clock frequency changes the impedance of the device and therefore if any non-idealities like manufacturing deviations or other sources of non-idealities were responsible for difference in impedances of the devices to begin with causing such different than VDD drops across them, then such adjustment of impedances of the device through input vectors or clock frequency can compensate for it.
  • At least some of the described embodiments as shown in Figures 1-6 include generating one or more of V_Ter z terminal potentials by generating voltage staggered columns that have a smaller step granularity X than VDD.
  • Rj voltage dropping elements
  • a voltage level shifting buffer may be realized by an active circuit including of one or more of transistors or even a combination of passive devices, such as, diodes or resistors or capacitors.
  • the generation assumes one of the following or more (a) current being passed through the voltage dropping elements which when multiplied by the “effective” resistance of the voltage dropping element generates those voltages Xj or potential differences in the array or (b) the presence of voltage battery or voltage level shifting buffer, which generates the voltage Xj or potential differences in the array and such generation of Xj voltages between Vss terminals of any devices in same row, between column j to column j+1 can be done by placing voltage dropping elements in only 1 row using M- 1 elements (for example in row 1 with
  • Rj or R2j when referenced to Rj or R2j being implemented as a “switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor”, that may include any Rj or R2j implementation done with an active device that includes a combination of transistors and/or resistors and/or capacitors and/or diodes and is clocked to function as a switched capacitor resistor.
  • the reference to Rj or R2j being implemented as a “switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor” may therefore include a device similar or substantially similar to a device from the array of devices that can be configured as a switched capacitor resistor to function as a voltage dropping element Rj or an additional voltage dropping element R2j.
  • Rj or R2j if implement as a trace or routing wire resistance may be very low valued.
  • the Rxl terminal of voltage dropping elements Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (1 ,j+l) in the array of devices, and the Rx2 terminal of Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of one of the j devices at j locations in row 1 from (1,1) to (l,j) in the array of devices.
  • the Rxl and Rx2 terminals of the voltage dropping elements Rj are connected to the Vss terminals of the devices at locations (1 ,j+l) and (l,j) in the array of devices.
  • Figure 2 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment.
  • the dashed line convention in the column is shown in the Figure 2 to indicate that there could be more devices in each column than the devices shown.
  • each device within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 is specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M.
  • each device includes a Vdd terminal to source current to the device, and a Vss terminal to sink current from the device, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal.
  • at least a first plurality of the devices in the array of devices further include V_Ter z terminals, wherein the V_Ter z terminals can be used to source current to the device or to sink current from the device or can be a reference voltage to the device.
  • the devices 251, 252, 253 are voltage dropping elements that implement the voltage drop X as in the embodiment shown in this Figure 2, all the Xj are the same as X between the columns of the array of devices and they are disposed between Vss terminals of devices in row 1 of the array.
  • the generation of the voltage drop Xj between potentials of Vss (or correspondingly Vdd in case of balanced array) terminals of devices (i,j+l) in column j+1 to devices (i,j) in column j can alternatively be achieved in many different ways according to various different embodiments.
  • the voltage dropping elements When the voltage dropping elements are implemented in 1 row, the voltage dropping elements can be disposed to pass through either cumulative current of all higher numbered columns as shown in the embodiment of Figure 2 or pass through current of an individual column (as will be discussed in the embodiment shown in Figure 3), or by possibly one of factorial(M-l) combinations not possible to depict in the embodiments shown in Figures 2-3.
  • 2 rows comprising M-l voltage dropping elements in row 1 and (M-l) additional voltage dropping elements in row N (or 2* (M-l) total voltage dropping elements) may be used, especially if only 1 power source of voltage N*VDD+(M-1)*X or higher, is used for generating the voltages of the entire array of devices (including the N*VDD+(j-l)*X voltages that are needed for devices in row N across each column in the array of devices), by connecting such 1 power source higher potential terminal to the Vdd terminal of device at location (N,M) and the lower potential terminal to the Vss terminal of the devices at location (1,1).
  • the Figures 4 and 5 show only 1 exemplary embodiment (b) for generating the N*VDD+(j-l)*X voltages for columns j.
  • controlling the voltage dropping elements or the additional voltage dropping elements externally if such voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements have inputs to control the resistance or voltage across such elements, or choosing appropriate values of voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements, such inaccuracies in staggered voltages (N*VDD+(j-l)*X), if realized from single power supply source of voltage of N*VDD+(M-1)*X or higher, may be minimized. It is also anticipated here in such embodiments that such Voltage Dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements while if controlled can provide accuracy in voltage may not result in low impedance at source points N*VDD+(j-l)*X.
  • the voltage of the power supply is N*VDD+(M-1)*X and such a power supply is shown connected to the terminal Vss of device at location (1,1) and terminal Vdd of device at location (N, M).
  • the voltage of the power supply may be greater than N*VDD+(M-1)*X and it may be connected to the terminal Vss of device at location (1,1) and terminal Vdd of device at location (N, M) through other interposing elements which may perform one or more functions and may or may not drop voltage across the interposing elements.
  • unequal and nonideal voltage division of VDD in the devices belonging to the different rows of any column will also lead to a difference in desired drop of X between the Vss (or between the Vdd) terminals of devices at locations (i,j) and (i,j+ 1) but that non-ideality can also be reduced by controlling clock frequency or other inputs of each device and may set a lower limit on the practical choice of X in a device array implementation.
  • desired voltage Xj may be kept deliberately different from each other for different values of j, and only the sum of certain number of contiguous voltages Xj, as described later, may be desired to be kept constant and equal to the desired potential difference between V_Ter z to Vss terminals or V_Ter z to Vdd terminals.
  • Rj voltage dropping elements
  • At least one of the described conditions on Xj in array notation implements the conditions for any number of V_Ter z terminals in the entire array of devices and are referred to as “general condition statement”.
  • sum() notation represents the summation of all elements inside the parenthesis, and in the case there is only one element inside parenthesis, the sum() represents that element, and min() represents the minimum of all elements inside the parenthesis, and in the case if all elements are equal than min represents one of the elements inside the parenthesis.
  • connections in array notation implement the connections for any number of V_Ter z terminals in the entire array of devices and are referred to as “general connection statement”.
  • general connection statement connections as described in the general connection statement are true for only such index values of z from 1 :Zmax, where V_Ter z terminals are desired to be “generated” a voltage of from the array of devices by connecting such V_Ter z to a Vdd or a Vss terminal of another device in array of devices that supplies or sinks the current or provides the reference voltage of the terminal V_Ter z .
  • the integer M is chosen to ensure that (M*X-VDD) is designed to be as close to zero voltage as possible for a balanced operation of voltages and current flows in the array of devices. In this embodiment any deviation from that may result in imbalances in the array but those could be resolved by adjusting external parameters.
  • reference voltage of V_Ter z the reference is to the difference of potential of V_Ter z terminal to potential of Vss terminal of the device containing the V_Ter z terminal, where potential of Vss terminal is considered as 0 without any loss of generality as all potentials inside any device are all referenced to Vss.
  • to fully balance the array in such embodiment may be harder and significant external parameter adjustment may be needed.
  • Reference in the described embodiment to a “second majority” means that more than 50% of the devices in the first plurality and more than 50% of the connections as described for that embodiment are made, but not all the connections may be made for other reasons. It is anticipated in an embodiment that if all the connections are made, and the second majority of devices in the first plurality therefore means all the devices of the first plurality then that leads to a more balanced operation. It is also anticipated in at least some embodiments the first plurality may be all the devices in the array of devices.
  • the connections need to be made the ensure that the sum of C(z) number of any contiguous Xj voltages across the entire array, is the same as the minimum of the (difference between V_ter z terminal and the Vss terminal) or (the difference between Vdd Terminal and V_Ter z terminal) to allow the appropriate connections of V_Ter z terminal to Vss terminal or Vdd terminal C(z) columns away.
  • V_Teri can represent a raised ground terminal of the devices, wherein inside any device, if Vdd supplies current Ij from Vdd terminal to Vss terminal and current IJR from the Vdd terminal to the V_Teri terminal then for full balancing of current, the Vdd terminal of each device at location (i,j) receives one current Ij from the device in a row higher and one current IjR from the device in the row higher and in a staggered column, except for the first column, where the IJR current sunk into V_Ten of device (i,4) is fed back to the Vdd of device (i, 1) for all currents to be fully balanced and all desired voltages for V_Teri to be generated by staggered voltages across the columns.
  • M devices (4 devices in Figure 2) out of N*M may not be fully symmetric with all the connections and dummy device load balancing may be used in the array if better balancing is desired. It is also to be noted that in other embodiments, all the connections as indicated need not be made for some reasons, but only majority of the connections may be made.
  • the Rxl and Rx2 terminals of the voltage dropping element Rj are connected to the Vss terminals of the devices at locations (1 ,j+l) and (1,1) in the array of devices.
  • Figure 3 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment.
  • the dashed line convention in the column is shown in the Figure to indicate that there could be more devices in each column than the devices shown.
  • each device within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 is specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M.
  • each device includes a Vdd terminal to source current to the device, and a Vss terminal to sink current from the device, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal.
  • at least the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices further include Zmax number of V_Ter z terminals where V_Ter z terminals can be used to source current to the device or to sink current from the device or could be a reference voltage to the device.
  • many different embodiments can be used to implement the positioning of the Voltage Dropping Elements in the row 1 (or any other row).
  • Rj voltage dropping elements
  • the array of devices include additional voltage dropping elements R2j, wherein each of the additional voltage dropping elements R2j comprise an Rxl terminal and an Rx2 terminal, and wherein each of the additional voltage dropping elements (R2j) facilitating a potential drop across the Rxl terminal and the Rx2 terminal are implemented by one or more of: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors.
  • the Vdd terminal of device at location (N,M) is connected to a higher potential terminal of a power supply with voltage N*VDD+(M-1)*X.
  • Figure 4 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment.
  • the dashed line convention in the column is shown in the Figure to indicate that there could be more devices in each column than the devices shown.
  • each device within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 is specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M.
  • each device including a Vdd terminal to source current to the device, and a Vss terminal to sink current from the device, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal.
  • at least the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices further include Zmax V_Ter z terminal where V_Ter z terminal can be used to source current to the device or to sink current from the device or could be a reference voltage to the device.
  • any manufacturing tolerances and/or temperature variations and/or non-ideal I*R current multiplied by undesired resistance or variation of currents from designed ideal value
  • any manufacturing tolerances and/or temperature variations and/or non-ideal I*R current multiplied by undesired resistance or variation of currents from designed ideal value
  • any manufacturing tolerances and/or temperature variations and/or non-ideal I*R current multiplied by undesired resistance or variation of currents from designed ideal value
  • any manufacturing tolerances and/or temperature variations and/or non-ideal I*R current multiplied by undesired resistance or variation of currents from designed ideal value drops in the array or other undesirable non-idealities including but not limited to noise, can make such desired or designed equality of voltages different than each other and that is why they are referred to as “substantially the same” or “substantially same” and not “exactly the same”.
  • any two voltages are compared to each other or stated to be ““substantially same” or “substantially the same” or any potential differences are compared to a voltage and being stated as “substantially same” or “substantially the same”, such potential differences or voltages are designed to be nominally the same value as VDD or VDD/2 or VDTer z or (VDD-VDTer z ) as the reference may be, but due to all non-idealities referenced above, such potential differences or voltages can differ from the desired or designed voltages by differing amounts and even different percentage deviations.
  • the percentage deviation may be higher when the voltage being compared to is lower and percentage deviation from the designed value may be higher when the voltage being compared to is higher.
  • such large deviations from expected to actual voltages may put a lower limit on realizable “granularity” of the V_Ter z terminal voltages to not choose too small of a voltage VDD-VDTer z or VDTer z for terminal voltages, depending further also on the absolute value of VDD and that may limit the choice of large M depending on the value of how low the VDD is.
  • VDD-VDTer z or VDTer z may limit the choice of large M depending on the value of how low the VDD is.
  • N*VDD+(M-1)*X when referred to as “substantially the same as N*VDD+(M-1)*X” that means the power supply source voltage is to be “designed” to have a “nominal” value of N*VDD+(M-1)*X for optimal drops across the entire array, however practical manufacturing tolerances and practical variations in power supply source that is designed to have such nominal values of N*VDD+(M-1)*X can often cause the power supply voltage to be lower and sometimes higher than that designed nominal voltage just due to variations or other reasons. It is further to be noted that in at least some embodiments, the connection between the Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1) to the lower potential of two terminals of the power supply may not be shorted and may be through
  • 1 or more different voltage dropping elements or even other interposing elements including inductors, resistors or capacitors that are used for power supply filtering circuits or other purposes and the connection between the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N, M) to the higher potential of two terminals of the power supply may also not be shorted but maybe through 1 or more voltage dropping elements or even other interposing elements including inductors, resistors or capacitors that are used for power supply filtering or other purposes.
  • connections are described in the entire array of devices by use of words “is connected to” “being connected to” or “connections” whether between Vss terminals to Vdd terminals of different devices or between V_Ter terminals or V_Ter_2 terminals or other terminals of any of the devices to other terminals like Vdd terminals or Vss terminals of any of the other devices, they may not necessarily be “shorted” connections (where a shorted connection between 2 terminals are be defined as a connection via an electrical wire whether realized on an IC or PCB, with intended zero, but practicably negligible resistance, and most of the connections shown in Figures 1-6 qualify as “shorted” connections).
  • connections wherever referenced by “connected to” “is connected to” “being connected to” or “connections”, whether individually between two terminals of any two devices or same device, whether in array notation or not, can be through interposing filtering circuits or other interposing elements, including but not limited to switches with desirably zero but practically finite resistances, between any 2 connected terminals described in the connection, wherein such interposing elements or filtering circuits in between, do not affect the desired functionality of achieving the same or similar voltage of the two terminals that such a described connection between the two terminals intends to achieve.
  • Figure 5 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment.
  • the dashed line convention in the column is shown in the Figure to indicate that there could be more devices in each column than the devices shown.
  • each device within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 is specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M.
  • each device including a Vdd terminal to source current to the device, and a Vss terminal to sink current from the device, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal.
  • at least the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices further including Zmax V_Ter z terminal where V_Ter z terminal can be used to source current to the device or to sink current from the device or could be a reference voltage to the device.
  • many different embodiments can be used to generate the N*VDD+(j-l)*X voltage of row N.
  • the Rx2 terminal of the additional voltage dropping element R2j is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,j) in the array of devices, and the Rxl terminal of R2j is connected to the Vdd terminal of one of the (M-j) devices at (M-j) locations in row N from (N,j+1) to (N,M) in the array of devices; and the Rxl terminal of voltage dropping element Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (1 ,j+l) in the array of devices, and the Rx2 terminal of Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of one of the j devices at j locations in row 1 from (1,1) to (l,j) in the array of devices.
  • (Xi,X2,X3,X4,Xs) can be kept as (VDD/6, VDD/6, VDD/6, VDD/6, VDD/6) mV or (VDD/6-B, VDD/6+B, VDD/6-B, VDD/6+B, VDD/6-B) or (VDD/6+B, VDD/6-B, VDD/6+B, VDD/6-B, VDD/6+B), where B is a voltage less than VDD/6.
  • This embodiment may be less balanced than the embodiment where the first plurality comprised of all of the devices in the array, but a reasonably balanced voltage generation of V_Ten is still possible and goes on to show that an embodiment where the first plurality is neither a majority nor all of devices in the array of devices.
  • the first plurality may be a majority of the devices in the array of devices. In some embodiments; nearly all or all the devices in the array of devices may be in the first plurality of devices. In some embodiments, the second majority may be nearly all or all of the devices in the first plurality.
  • N may be equal to 1 , and then only one device may exist in a column and the Vdd terminal to Vss terminal connections are not stacked in a column and the potentials of Vdd terminals of each of the devices of the first plurality of devices are not generated by array terminals but through the (M-l) Rj voltage dropping elements with a single power supply source or through M different power supply sources for each of the M devices left in that embodiment.
  • the V_Ter z voltages can still be generated by the array of devices that reduce to just a row vector, from all the devices in row 1.
  • the array of voltages generated as illustrated can be configured in many different connections to realize V_Ter z in different mechanisms, which in some cases can be even less balanced than the illustration above or achieved the same balancing by other mechanisms.
  • Figure 6 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
  • Figure 6 shows an embodiment that includes at least 2 additional terminals V_Teri and V_Ter2.
  • Figure 6 further shows voltage dropping elements 651, 652, 653, 654, 655. This embodiment is in contrast to the embodiments of Figures 2-5 wherein only at least one extra terminal voltage V_Ter is generated from the array of devices. Specific connections for connecting the 2 terminal voltages V_Ter and V_Ter_2 is difficult to show figuratively but are described herein.
  • the potential of V_Teri terminal is closer to potential of Vss terminal compared to the potential of the Vdd Terminal and the potential of V_Ter2 terminal is closer to potential of Vdd Terminal compared to the potential of the Vss Terminal.
  • the potentials of the V_Teri and V_Ter2 terminals are both closer to the potential of Vss Terminal compared to the potential of Vdd Terminal.
  • the potentials of the V_Teri and V_Ter2 terminals are both closer to potential of Vdd Terminal compared to the potential of Vss terminal.
  • C(z) for other values of index z may be chosen to be based on the general condition statement for other values of z.
  • At least some of the described embodiments make reference to the “desired voltage” of the V_Ter z and that voltage of V_Ter z terminal is the potential difference of potential of V_Ter z terminal from Vss terminal. It is understood that prior to connection of the V_Ter z terminals to the terminals of the neighboring devices Vdd or Vss terminals, the potential of the V_Ter z terminals is not yet defined and the selection process of whether to connect it to Vdd or Vss terminals of the neighboring devices is based on therefore the “expected” or “desired” or “designed” value of the potential of the V_Ter z terminals which is set during the design of the device based on certain goals including the amount of power saving and/or timing and delay constraints and in case of analog circuits based on the desired reference voltage needed.
  • V_Ter z terminals reference is made to the potential or voltage of the V_Ter z terminals without using the word “desired” ahead of the potential or voltage of these terminals and in such cases the reference to the V_Ter z terminal potentials is the desired designed potential that results after the desired designed connections are already made.
  • At least some embodiments include 3 or more V_Ter z terminals even though not shown in the Figures. The number of combinations for such voltages being closer to Vdd or Vss or the difference between those voltages to Vss or Vdd is large.
  • the general condition statement and general connection statement both apply to determine the array desired Xj voltages and the connections of the V_Ter z to the array terminals.
  • the power consumed in the voltage dropping elements to realize any extra terminal voltages may be considered substantial.
  • power consumed in the voltage dropping elements as a proportion of the total power consumed in the remainder of the array of devices is somewhat proportional to the ratio of the voltage drop in the voltage dropping elements to the voltage drop across the entire column, so power penalty of the voltage dropping elements to achieve any desired functionality or extra terminals is reduced for larger values of N.
  • the percentage variation in Xj voltage could be as much as 2W%*VDD/Xj, which is equal to 2W%*VDD/(VDD/M) for some embodiments where Xj are all equal to VDD/M; and therefore in some embodiments, the percentage variation in Xj voltage would be equal to 2W%*M, and if such variation of 2W%*M were to be kept lesser than a desired percentage DSXJ then 2W%*M would be kept lesser than DSXJ which in some embodiments may limit the choice of maximum value of M.
  • each device has a difference in potential between Vdd terminal and Vss terminal of a desired potential of VDD.
  • VDD may be slightly different for each device than the desired VDD at least due to manufacturing deviations of each device or at least due to different input vectors.
  • such differences of the potential difference between Vdd and Vss to the desired VDD can be attempted to be adjusted (compensated) by adjusting input vectors and/or input clock frequency as among a few exemplary parameters.
  • this is accomplished because changing input vectors or input clock frequency changes the impedance of the device, and therefore, if any non-idealities, such as, manufacturing deviations or other sources of non-idealities responsible for difference in impedances of the devices to begin with causing such different than VDD drops across them, then such adjustment of impedances of the device through input vectors or clock frequency can compensate for the non-idealities.
  • one of more of the devices are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs, wherein changing the external parameters or inputs changes an impedance of the devices and the potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of the one or more devices.
  • the external parameters or inputs comprise at least a clock frequency of operation of the one or more devices.
  • the arrays of devices are not restricted to 2 dimensions and may be extended to a 3 rd dimension.
  • the array of devices as described with only row index i and column index j may be considered a special case of a 3- dimensional array for a constant third dimensional index k, and the 3 rd dimension with index k therefore not being considered in such 2-dimensional array notation.
  • At least some embodiments include the 3 rd dimension for which the similar staggered distribution of Xj voltages in the 2 nd column with index j is devised in the 3 rd dimension with index k as a staggered distribution of Wk voltages.
  • one or more of the devices are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs, wherein changing the external parameters or inputs changes an impedance of the devices and the potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of the one or more devices.
  • the external parameters or inputs include at least a clock frequency of operation of the one or more devices.
  • the voltage dropping elements or the additional voltage dropping elements can also have more than 2 terminals and be controllable by external parameters or additional inputs at those additional terminals to those voltage dropping elements other than the 2 terminals in the array shown.
  • the external parameters or inputs can control the potential drop between the 2 terminals of the voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements in the array, by changing either the impedance or other characteristics of those voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements.
  • changes of the voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements can be used to make sure the substantially same voltage drop desired across those voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements (X or jX or (M-j)*X), for different values of j, is achieved to a better degree of accuracy, even in presence of either the currents through the voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements being different from desired or the desired values of the voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements being different from desired, in either case due to practical manufacturing tolerances or temperature or voltage variations.
  • the external parameters or the inputs to the devices in the array of devices can be a clock frequency if such voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements are implemented as a switched capacitor resistor.
  • the resistors can be selected to be different than what an ideal design or calculated value would be to account for the non-ideal drop in voltages due to difference in current in the columns due to manufacturing tolerances in the devices and temperature variations.
  • the inputs can be changed so that the value of the resistors is adjusted until the voltage drop across the resistors is as close to provide the desired drop across the resistors.
  • the one or more of the voltage dropping elements (Rj) are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs to the voltage dropping elements, wherein changing the external parameters or inputs changes the potential difference across the terminals of the voltage dropping elements that are connected in the array of devices.
  • the one or more of the voltage dropping elements (Rj) and additional voltage dropping elements (R2j) are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs to the voltage dropping elements (Rj, R2j), wherein changing the external parameters or inputs changes the potential difference across the terminals of the Voltage Drop Elements that are connected in the array of devices.
  • a reference to “voltage dropping elements” may include the “additional voltage dropping elements” as well.
  • Figure 7 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 711, 712, 721, 722 at locations (1,1), (2,1), (1,2), (2,2) that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment.
  • the terminals V_Teri and V_Ter2 are intended to be reduced supply and raised sink terminals Vdd_R and Vss_R may be chosen to be VDD/M voltage away from the VDD or VSS voltages, where M>2, to actually source current between Vdd_R and Vss_R and in those embodiments at least a 2xM array would need to be designed and connections depicted for the same and then each device in some of those embodiments may carry only 2 currents.
  • the 2 node voltages of the Vdd terminals of devices 711 and 721 are referred to as VN1 and VN2.
  • connections of V_Ten and V_Ter2 for each device are shown by labeling the connections instead of actually drawing physical wires, as 8 crossover connections are hard to depict pictorially in Figure 7.
  • non-idealities of the array of devices are analyzed, wherein for a fully balanced operation of the array of devices if all 4 devices were identical and not merely substantially similar, than the node voltages VN1 and VN2 would be VDD and VDD+X respectively, but since devices cannot be identical, therefore the node voltages VN 1 and VN2 would be different than the desired ideal voltages and as some of the possible embodiments depicted as VDD+/-A and VDD+X+/-A, where A represents deviation from ideal and +/- notation represents that either of + or - operand could apply.
  • the current between any 2 terminals is the conductance parameter a n multiplied by the potential difference between the two terminals, where a n in some embodiments is proportional to a n *C n *F n , where a n represents the activity factor of the portion of circuitry whose conductance is depicted by > n , C n represents the capacitance of the portion of circuitry whose conductance is depicted by > n , F n represents the frequency of clocking of the portion of the circuitry whose conductance is depicted by D n .
  • VN1 would be less than VDD (or VDD-A) if as (and/or aw) is lesser than ai (and/or a2) and VN2 would be greater than VDD (or VDD+A) if a? (and/or an) is greater than as (and/or &) and VN2 would be VDD-A if a? (and/or an) is lesser than as (and/or a&).
  • devices should be staggered such that devices with lower a n values are kept in 2 corners and devices with higher a n values are kept in the other 2 corners of the 2x2 array (thereby alternating the lower a n with higher a n devices).
  • different such constraints may be there to optimize the value of A and or optimize the value of difference in voltages from the ideal amount between neighboring columns in same row.
  • Figure 8 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 811, 812, 813, 814, 821,822, 823, 824 at locations (1,1), (1,2), (1,M-1), (1,M), (2,1), (2,2), (2,M-1), (2,M) that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment.
  • Vdd_R and Vss_R respectively with a desired VDTer z voltages of (VDD-VDD/M) and VDD/M respectively, so X is VDD/M.
  • Each device has two currents one between Vdd and Vss terminal and another one between Vdd_R and Vss_R in this embodiment of Figure 8 as opposed to the 3 currents in each device for the embodiment of Figure 7.
  • the conductance coefficients of device at location (1,1) are (ai,a2); at location (2,1) are (33,34); at location (1,2) are (35,36); at location (1,M) are (39, aw) and at location (2,M) are (an, aw).
  • the node voltages are shown as +/-A indicating that the deviation from the ideal voltage can be either positive or negative and different mismatches between the devices in the array result in different values of a n and result in different sign and value of A.
  • an array of devices comprises each device within the array of devices specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M, wherein M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2 and N is a positive integer; and each device including a Vdd terminal and a Vss terminal, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal.
  • a programmable link needs to be placed at each device V_Ter z , Vdd and Vss terminals to allow them to be connected to other device terminals in a digitally programmable way to not change the physical location or physical placement of the devices in the array and yet be able to complete desired connections for a given array location in the array of devices (which physical placement of such if done on monolithic device cannot be changed post fabrication, and if done on PCB may also be difficult to change after placing the device on the PCB).
  • digitally programmable links can be implemented in the form of various switches (that may be implemented as transistors driven by a digital signal or fuses) at each of the V_Ter z , Vdd and Vss terminals and then routing may be implemented from the other terminal of the various switches placed at each one of the terminals of devices to one of the terminals of the various switches placed at the each one of the terminals of the other devices in the array of devices where intended connections need to be made.
  • the “physical placement” of the devices in an array may no longer be correlated with the location (i,j) of the devices in the array, where “location” is referred to as the array location and physical placement while should mimic the location in the array may be different in presence of switches which allow different connections of devices to be placed in different locations in array.
  • the physical placement may be different than array location in presence of the switches and programmability of links and a device in a certain physical placement with the connection of the switches can be placed at a different array location to meet the other conditions for the array locations.
  • connection may also be through an interposing element including but not limited to a switch that allows this connection to be switched off and allow a device to connect to other devices if need be to relocate the physical placement of the device to a different array location.
  • a Vss terminal of each of the devices in the first majority of devices is connected to a Vdd terminal of another device in the array of devices.
  • the connection may be to a Vdd terminal of a device with just 1 row index below as is the default connection if no switch over of physical placement of device to a different array location were to be done, or it may be through switches to other devices in the same column or other rows with an intention of changing the physical placement of the device to a different array location.
  • a connection as described above can be through interposing elements that may include switches or filtering circuits as described prior.
  • the first majority may be more than 50% of the devices in the array of devices or include every device in the entire array of devices.
  • a Vdd terminal of each of a second plurality of devices in the first majority of devices is connected to first terminals of at least two switches and wherein second terminals of the at least two switches are connected to Vss terminals of any other at least two devices in the array of devices
  • a Vss terminal of each of a second plurality of devices in the first majority of devices is connected to first terminals of at least two other switches and wherein second terminals of the at least two other switches are connected to Vdd terminals of any other at least two devices in the array of devices.
  • the switches are intended to complete the connections in the best way such that the devices are stacked in a column with Vdd of one device connected to Vss of other device with a higher row index in the array locations and that is why an equal voltage division VDD between all devices may be achieved.
  • the switches may have a digital code to control the programming of the switches as to which switch to turn on and which to turn off, and programming of the digital code may be done outside the array of devices by a host processor or other device to optimize the devices in each location of the array.
  • each device where switch impedance can be controlled may be low to not allow too much drop across it, to have at least 2 switches attached to each of the Vdd and the Vss terminals to be able to switch placement of a device physically placed elsewhere to a different desired location in the array.
  • 3 or more switches may be used allowing connecting in the default way where physical placement were to match the array location, and also allowing the device to be switched to at least one array location higher or one array location lower, or in some embodiments 5 or more switches may be used, allowing connecting in the default way where physical placement were to match the array location, and also allowing the device to be switched to at least one array location with a higher row index or one array location with a lower row index and also allowing the device to be switched to at least one array location with a lower column index or one array location with a higher column index.
  • the switches may be driven by digital signals that may be programmed or changed externally through various different mechanisms.
  • At least one of V_Ter z terminal of a third plurality of devices in the first plurality of devices is connected to first terminals of at least two switches and wherein each of second terminals of the at least two switches are connected to a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal of any other devices in the array of devices.
  • At least 2 switches allow the switching over the connection of the V_Ter z terminal to the other locations of devices as well if the terminal connections of Vdd and Vss are switched over to allow relocation of a device physically placed elsewhere to a desired location in the array and in practical implementations the number of switches kept for V_Ter z terminals must be at least the same as the number of switches kept for the Vdd or Vss terminal, to be limited largely by the switch size.
  • the switches may be implemented with fuses.
  • the switches may be implemented with transistors which are digitally controllable and whose sizes may be high due to low impedance requirement of the switch.
  • these nodes of Vdd, Vss or V_Ter z with the switches in many embodiments do not represent signal nodes but represent nodes to sink or source current or to be a reference voltage, the large capacitance of large switches and the routing may be acceptable there, and therefore large switch sizes may be kept to minimize I*R drops associated with the switches and also very wide routing may be adopted to reduce I*R drops due to the routing complexity introduced, and the area and cost increase due to that may put some limitations on the number of switches or the amount of flexibility or programmability that is implemented to result in low A for very high current devices.
  • first majority or the second majority may have some of the same devices in common or have all of the same devices in common and each of the majorities may include nearly all or all of the devices in the array.
  • each of the first plurality, the second plurality or third plurality may have some of the same devices or have all of the same devices or be the same or different than any of the first or the second majority, and each of the pluralities may represent a majority of devices in the array or nearly all of the devices in the array or all of the devices in the array.
  • At least some of the embodiments enable the generation of 1 or more extra terminal voltages V_Ter z that can be done for the purpose of power consumption reduction in any device by having such extra terminal voltages representing either a lowered supply or raised Vss voltages.
  • the additionally introduced terminal voltages with a lowered supply or raised Vss voltages is used for power supply source or sink for lesser critical timing path circuits or circuits that have lesser accuracy or headroom requirements or wherever usable without compromising functionality and thereby optimized for lower power consumption.
  • such power reduction is effective in cases where the accuracy or timing requirement of a significant portion of the digital circuitry was not too stringent where such intermediate power source or sink terminals can be used to reduce power consumption of circuits in the devices at the expense of added delays that are tolerable for less critical timing paths.
  • power reduction is also be very effective when repetitive structure of devices were to be used for higher throughput applications, wherein large number of devices is be implemented in either a monolithic implementation or on PCB hardware implementation, wherein usage of a large number of similar devices for parallel processing or increased throughput makes the balancing, availability and generation of such additional terminals, to save power, in an effective way to each devices without wasting any power on extra devices or components needed to generate such terminal voltages.
  • such power reduction can be even more effective when devices are more tolerant to occasional errors in the computation operations of such digital logic, wherein such occasional errors may be induced due to the fact that such power sources or sinks may not be as low impedance or as accurate compared to a regulated power supply source (b)
  • such generation of 1 or more extra terminal voltages can be used for the purpose of providing a reference voltage for even analog circuit operation where such references voltages were necessary, (c)
  • the embodiments described here are not only a low cost and efficient way of generating VDD voltages from a power supply source with a voltage substantially close to (N+1)*VDD, without need for additional VDD Regulated voltage power supplies that would be needed otherwise for each device in each column that would consume costly and often infeasible/inefficient power regulation sources, but also for generating such closely spaced voltages of V_Ter z that are even smaller than VDD without the need for additional Regulated Voltage Power supplies that would be otherwise needed for each device in each column for such
  • VDD small power supply voltages
  • V_Ter z can be for example as small as (25mV-100mV) above Vss or (25-100mv) below Vdd)
  • V_Ter z voltage can be for example as small as (25mV-100mV) above Vss or (25-100mv) below Vdd
  • the magnitude of the current needed to source from such Regulated Voltage Power supplies to supply such V_Ter z voltages may be high so that I*R (current multiplied by resistance) drops across the PCB traces or device routing may be prohibitively high, limiting the desire to use any terminal voltages V_Ter z for power consumption reduction or other reasons.
  • the additional feedback currents introduced between array of devices with staggered voltages may lead to reduced variation in the intermediate device VDD voltages in the array of devices as compared to a non-staggered implementation of multiple devices, reducing the need for frequency adjustment to have accurate VDD voltages, and programmability of devices from a certain placement to a different location in the array may further reduce such intermediate device VDD voltage variations, compared to an implementation of array of devices or multiple processing engines without the staggered voltage distribution.
  • Some embodiments may be used wherever there is a repetitive use of similar multi core processing engines or repetitive use of many cores of similar mixed signal devices.

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Abstract

Apparatuses, methods, and systems for power supply stacking of an array of devices are disclosed. For an embodiment, each device is specified by a location (i, j), each device includes a Vdd terminal, and a Vss terminal. For an embodiment, the Vss terminal of each of the devices in the first majority of the devices at location (i, j), is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i-1, j), wherein the potential of the Vss terminal of the each device at any location (1, j+1) is higher than the potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (1, j) by a voltage Xj, for j=1:M-1, wherein a sum of all Xj voltages for j=1: (M-1) is greater than 0.25*VDD.

Description

APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORAN ARRAY OF DEVICES
Related Applications
[0001] This patent application is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of US Patent Application Serial No. 17/676,761 filed 02/21/2022, which is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of US Patent Application Serial No. 17/672,686 filed 02/16/2022, which are herein incorporated by reference.
Field of the Described Embodiments
[0002] The described embodiments relate generally to electronic devices. More particularly, the described embodiments relate to systems, methods, and apparatuses for an array of devices.
Background
[0003] Low power supply voltage (as low as 200mV-500mV) may be used for lowering power consumption associated with dynamic power dissipation in integrated circuits (ICs). Such ICs can still, however, be required to support processing of a very high number of computations that consume high power at such small voltages, thereby drawing a very high amount of current. The IR (current times resistance) drops associated with such high currents can be large due to requirements of extra routing. Further, I2R power losses associated with these currents can limit the entire advantage of such choice of low power supply voltage. As one example, it is conceivable in any ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit)/Hardware implementation, that one of the ASICs running at 300mV power supply may burn as much as 3W, thereby taking as much as 10A of current and high-performance compute demands may require many such ASICs (>40) in at least some hardware system implementations. It is conceivable that a regulator that regulates and generates the individual voltages of the ICs down to such low voltages would be inefficient, and then even if done, at some point when an aggregation of the current is done through the 40 different IC’s would result in 10A*40=400A to be supplied by such regulator, resulting in any practicably implementable resistance carrying such current to have a large IR drop and large I2R power losses. Series power supply stacking of 40 IC’s where grounds of successive ICs are the supplies of the IC below in the stack (column) and such ICs power supplies and grounds are all put together in series between a 12V supply would lower the current requirement out of the Voltage regulation module which only generates 12V and is now required to support a 40 times lower current. However, such series stacking in a column may not provide additional voltages or additional power saving techniques if necessary.
[0004] It is desirable to have methods, apparatuses, and systems for voltage distribution of devices of an array of devices.
Summary
[0005] An embodiment includes an array of devices. For an embodiment, the array of devices includes each device within the array of devices specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M, , wherein M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2 and N is a positive integer; each device including a Vdd terminal, and a Vss terminal, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal. For an embodiment, for values of N greater than or equal to 2, for i=2:N and for j=l:M, for at least a first majority of the devices in the array of devices, the Vss terminal of each of the devices in the first majority of the devices at location (i,j), is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i- l,j), wherein a potential of the Vss terminal of each device at any location (1 ,j+l) of the array of devices is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location ( 1 ,j) by a voltage Xj, for j=l:(M-l); and wherein a sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than 0.25* VDD; and wherein VDD is a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device in the array of devices.
[0006] Other aspects and advantages of the described embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the described embodiments.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0007] Figure 1 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to an embodiment.
[0008] Figure 2 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
[0009] Figure 3 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
[0010] Figures 4 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment. [0011] Figures 5 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
[0012] Figure 6 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
[0013] Figure 7 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
[0014] Figure 8 shows a block diagram of an array of devices that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment.
Detailed Description
[0015] The embodiments described include methods, apparatuses, and systems for power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution. An embodiment includes an array of devices that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment. For an embodiment, each device includes at least one or more of transistors or resistors or capacitors or diodes. For an embodiment, the plurality of the one or more of transistors or resistors or capacitors or diodes in the device are configured as an electrical circuit. For an embodiment, each of the devices includes a Vdd terminal and a Vss terminal, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal.
[0016] For at least some of the described embodiments, “a sum of all Xj voltages for j= 1: M-l” is hereinafter interchangeably referred to as SUMXJM-I. The SUMXJM-I is the same as the difference in potential between the Vss terminal of device at location (1,M) and potential of Vss terminal at location (1,1), which is hereinafter termed as VSSDIFFM-I. In several embodiments for measurement purposes therefore, SUMXJM-I may be measured as VSSDIFFM-I, that may be easier to measure than measuring SUMXJM-I. For at least some of the described embodiments, the potential difference between Vdd terminal and Vss terminal is designed to be a static voltage, however it may not be a static voltage in operation of array of devices due to noise and other non-idealities, and the voltages Xj and SUMXJM-I are designed to be static voltages as well, however they may not be static voltages in operation of array of devices due to noise and other non-idealities.
[0017] For at least some of the described embodiments, when reference is made to “a sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than 0.25* VDD, and wherein VDD is a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device in the array of devices”, it refers to the designed value of VDD that would be similar to static time averaged value of VDD, and the designed or time averaged values of SUMXJM-I, where the noise and other non-idealities that cause VDD or SUMXJM-I to vary over time have been averaged out to result in a static VDD and static SUMXJM-I. For at least some of the described embodiments, when reference is made to condition “a sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than 0.25* VDD; and wherein VDD is a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device in the array of devices”, the condition implied in that statement includes embodiments where the condition “a sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than 0.25* VDD” is satisfied, if even one of the device in the N*M array of devices has a potential difference between Vdd and Vss terminals of VDD during operation of the array of devices.
[0018] For an embodiment, where N=l, M=4, a case for illustration purposes only is considered, where a device 1 has a static (or nearly static) potential difference of 1.1 Volts between their Vdd and Vss terminal and 2 of the devices have the same static (or nearly static) potential difference between their Vdd and Vss terminals of 1.2V and 1 of the device has a static potential difference between their Vdd and Vss terminals of 1.3 Volts, and in such a case, the sum of all Xj voltages (SUMXJM-I) is a static voltage of 0.3V, then the condition “a sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than 0.25* VDD; and wherein VDD is a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device in the array of devices” is deemed to be satisfied as 0.3 volts is greater than O.25*(1.1V) where 1.1V was the potential difference between Vdd and Vss terminals of at least one device in the array of devices.
[0019] For another embodiment, where N=l, M=4, a case for illustration purposes only is considered, where 1 of the device has a static (or nearly static) potential difference of 1.1 Volts between their Vdd and Vss terminal and 2 of the devices have the same static (or nearly static) potential difference between their Vdd and Vss terminals of 1.2V and 1 of the device has a static potential difference between their Vdd and Vss terminals of 1.25 Volts, and in such a case, if the sum of all Xj voltages is 0.2V, then the condition “a sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than 0.25* VDD; and wherein VDD is a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device in the array of devices” is not satisfied as 0.2 volts is not greater than 0.25* (even one of the devices potential difference between Vdd and Vss terminals).
[0020] For another embodiment, where N=l, M=4, a case for illustration purposes only is considered, where a device 1 has a average potential difference of 1.1 V between their Vdd and Vss terminal and it varies due to noise or other non-idealities as a function of time between (1.05V and 1.15V) and 2 of the other devices have the same potential difference between their Vdd and Vss terminals that have a time average of 1.2V but vary between (1.15,1.25) V and 1 of the device has a time average potential of 1.3V that varies from (1.25V, 1.35V) as a function of time due to noise or non-idealities; and in such a case, if the sum of all Xj voltages has a time average of 0.3V and it varies from (0.27V to 0.33V), then the condition “a sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than 0.25* VDD; and wherein VDD is a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device in the array of devices” is satisfied here since the time average of sum of all Xj voltages is 0.3V volts that exceeds 0.25*1. IV where 1.1V was the time averaged value of the difference in potential between Vdd and Vss terminal of device 1.
[0021] For an embodiment, majority of the devices in the array may be desired to be substantially similar devices and majority of the devices in the array may have the same VDD potential difference between their Vdd and Vss terminals and for other embodiments, nearly all or all of the devices in the array may be designed to be substantially similar devices and nearly all or all of the devices in the array may be designed to have the same VDD potential difference between their Vdd and Vss terminals for a balanced operation of the array of devices.
[0022] For an embodiment, the array of devices comprising at least a first plurality of the devices in the array of devices, wherein each device in the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices further includes at least one input terminal and at least one output terminal and Zmax number of V_Terz terminals, wherein z is an index ranging from 1 to Zmax, where Zmax is a positive integer.
[0023] For an embodiment, each of the devices in the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices includes at least one input terminal and at least one output terminal and a Vdd terminal, and a Vss terminal. For an embodiment, the Vdd terminal is used to source current to the device and the Vss terminal is used to sink current from the device. For an embodiment, each of the devices may have at least one clock as one of at least one input or at least one output terminals. For an embodiment, a first plurality of the devices in the array of devices includes Zmax number of V_Terz terminal and where z is an index ranging from 1 to Zmax, where Zmax is a positive integer. For an embodiment, V_Terz terminals, for z=l:Zmax can be used to source current to the device or to sink current from the device or could be a reference voltage to the device. [0024] For an embodiment, at least a majority of the N devices, in each column j, for J=1:M, in the array of devices are substantially similar devices. For the described embodiment, term “substantially similar devices” means that the devices are substantially similar to the extent that all components of the devices are designed to be the same and the number and type of input terminals and output terminals and terminals to source and sink currents are the same on each device, but such devices may not be identical to the extent that such devices may receive different input signals and all components of such devices while designed to be the same, may not be identical at least due to different manufacturing tolerances, different temperatures, different input signals or slightly different voltages to source or sink currents. For an embodiment, substantially similar devices may be of different “types” that are classifications of different groups of substantially similar devices. For an embodiment (a) substantially similar devices of type 1 are devices that include 2 extra terminals V_Ten and V_Ter2 in addition to Vdd terminal and Vss terminal and other inputs and outputs terminals, (b) substantially similar devices of type 2 are devices that include 1 extra terminals V_Teri in addition to Vdd terminal and Vss terminal and other inputs and outputs terminals, (c) substantially similar devices of type 3 are devices that include no extra terminals for which potentials need to be generated in addition to Vdd terminal and Vss terminal and other inputs and outputs terminals. For an embodiment, there can be many other “types” of substantially similar devices. For an embodiment, some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 1. For an embodiment, some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 2. For an embodiment, some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 3. For an embodiment, some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 1, some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 2, some of the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 3. For an embodiment all the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 1. For an embodiment all the columns in the array of devices have at least a majority of substantially similar devices of type 2. A balanced voltage generation for the entire array of devices is achievable in at least some embodiments where all the columns of the entire array of devices are of one particular type and nearly all, or all of the devices in the entire array are substantially similar devices. [0025] For an embodiment, one or more devices in the array of devices may only be a two terminal device, where in the 2 terminals may be a Vdd terminal and a Vss terminal and the 2 terminal device may include only 2 terminal elements like a resistor or diode or include one or more transistors or resistors or capacitor or diodes with their terminals connected to each other in such a way that the device were to have only 2 terminals were to result in the device. For an embodiment, the two terminal devices may be used as a minority of the devices in the array and such 2 terminal devices may be different from majority of the devices used in the array, wherein such minority two terminal devices may be used to conduct the current through their terminals Vdd and Vss to balance the voltages in one column by replacing a non-functioning other device.
[0026] Figure 1 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment. The dashed line in each column of Figure 1 is shown to indicate that there can be more devices in each column than the ones shown. As shown, each device within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 is specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M. For an embodiment, each device including a Vdd terminal to source current to the device, and a Vss terminal to sink current from the device, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal. For an embodiment, V_Terz terminals, for z=l:Zmax can be used to source current to the device or to sink current from the device or could be a reference voltage to the device.
[0027] The description “plurality of the devices” implies at least 2 or more devices. For an embodiment, the first plurality of the devices may be all devices in a column. For an embodiment, the first plurality may be all devices in the entire array. Figure 1 shows an embodiment where the first plurality includes all the devices in the array of devices that are further substantially similar devices of type 2. Figure 1 shows an embodiment where M=4, Zmax=l, N > 2. Figure 1 shows an embodiment where the voltage Xj between each column j and (j+1) is same as X.
[0028] It is to be understood that “potential” and “electric potential” are interchangeably used as meaning the electric potential of any node or terminal in the electrical circuit; and voltage is the potential difference between 2 nodes or terminals of an electrical circuit, but if some node or terminal is referred to have a voltage, it is meant to be the potential difference between that node or terminal and 0.
[0029] For an embodiment, when N is greater than or equal to 2, then for i=2:N and for j=l:M, for at least a first majority of the devices in the array of devices, a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j) is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i- 1 ,j) by a substantially same voltage VDD and a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least the first majority of the devices in the array of devices to be a substantially same voltage VDD. For an embodiment, when N is greater than 2, then for a first majority of the devices in the array of device, the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j), for i=2:N, j=l:M is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i- 1 ,j) resulting in a substantially same voltage VDD as a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least the first majority of the devices in the array of devices. For an embodiment, the first majority includes at least greater than 50% of the devices in the array of devices that therefore have greater than 50% of the (N-1)*M described connections between Vss terminal of devices at location (i,j) to Vdd terminal of devices at location (i,j - 1) for i=2:N, j=l:M. For an embodiment, the substantially same voltage VDD across all devices Vdd and Vss terminal may be achieved if nearly, or all of the described connections are made for all of the devices in the entire column of the array. The first majority therefore may include all of the devices in the array in an embodiment.
[0030] For an embodiment, the potential of the Vss terminal of the each device at any location (i,j+ 1) of the array of devices is generated to be higher than the potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (i,j) by a voltage Xj, for i=l:N, j=l:(M-l), sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than or substantially same as VDD/2. For an embodiment due to non-idealities in the array of devices even though intended voltage of the sum of all voltages Xj is designed to be at least greater than or substantially same as VDD/2, considering that M can be as low as 2, the condition that is minimally needed to be met is that sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is to be greater than 0.25*VDD. For an embodiment, where all Xj are equal to X, the balanced array operation is obtained for M*X=VDD, and so X=VDD/M. For an embodiment, M=2, when there is only one value of Xj equal to X, and therefore the sum of Xj is designed to be VDD/2 but for defining a minimal condition the sum of Xj is required to be at least greater than 0.25* VDD due to non-idealities. For other embodiments, where M>2, the sum of Xj for j=l:M-l is designed to be (M-1)*VDD/M and therefore is designed to be 2/3*VDD for M=3, %*VDD for M=4, 4/5*VDD for M=5, but in practice if a condition were to be put on them to minimally satisfy, that condition due to non-idealities, may be lower than designed values of sum of Xj which is (M-1)*VDD/M. For an embodiment, where the potential of the Vss terminal of each device at any location ( l,j+l) of the array of devices is higher than the potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (1 ,j) by a voltage Xj, for j=l:(M-l); if further each of the devices in the columns have the same drop VDD across them by voltage stacking the devices in each column for the first majority or entirety of the devices in the array, then the implementation of such voltage drops Xj in row 1 ensures, that the potential of the Vss terminal for any device at location (i,j+l) of the array of devices is higher than the potential of the Vss terminal for the device at location (i,j) by Xj, for i=2:N, j=l:M-l as well, in addition to being true for row 1 where i=l, and therefore an entire array of devices with “staggered” voltage distribution between each columns is generated. It is to be understood that when reference is made in embodiments that the difference between the Vss terminals of devices at locations (i,j+ 1) and (i,j) is Xj, that difference Xj may not be exact for values of i greater than or equal to 2, in presence of unequal VDD voltages across various devices in the stack due to mismatches and nonidealities. For at least some embodiments, the sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is also less than or substantially same as VDD, wherein VDD is substantially the same as a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device of the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices. For at least some embodiments, wherein all of the Xj voltages are equal to X, one of the most balanced operation of the array of devices may be when X is such that M*X-VDD=0, and therefore the sum of Xj for j=l: (M-l) for one of the most balanced operations may be (M-1)*VDD/M. For at least some embodiments, (M*X- VDD) is designed to be in a voltage range of (-X/2, X/2) (especially if not possible to ensure (M*X-VDD)=0), and in some embodiments, if not possible to ensure that, then (M-1)*X may be kept substantially same as VDD.
[0031] For the described embodiments referencing potentials of Vdd terminal, it is to be understood that the potentials of a Vdd terminal or a Vss terminal of any device while desired to be constant, may vary as a function of signal or noise, due to non- zero impedance at the Vdd terminal or the Vss terminal, and the difference of the potential of the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal that defines the VDD of the at least one device may also vary so references to Vdd or Vss terminal potentials or VDD may imply the average desired value of potential of the Vdd terminal and average desired value of potential of the Vss terminal or VDD.
[0032] For at least some embodiments, at least one of a V_Terz terminal of a first device in the first plurality of the devices is connected to one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal of a second device in the first plurality of the devices, and at least one of a V_Terz terminal of the second device is connected to a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal of at least one of the first device or a different device in the array of devices.
[0033] For at least some embodiments, at least one of a V_Terz terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of a first device in the first plurality of the devices is connected to at least one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of a second device in the first plurality of the devices, and at least one of a V_Terz terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of the second device is connected to at least one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of at least one of the first device or a different device in the array of devices.
[0034] When in the described embodiments, reference is made to “wherein at least one of a V_Terz terminal of a first device in the first plurality of the devices is connected to one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal of a second device in the first plurality of the devices, and at least one of a V_Terz terminal of the second device is connected to a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal of at least one of the first device or a different device in the array of devices”, it is to be understood that the first device and the second device and the different device can be in any location in the array of devices and the connections of the described embodiments may be done for one or more other devices in the array of devices. When in the described embodiments, reference is made to “wherein at least one of a V_Terz terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of a first device in the first plurality of the devices is connected to one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of a second device in the first plurality of the devices, and at least one of a V_Terz terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of the second device is connected to a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of at least one of the first device or a different device in the array of devices”, it is to be understood that the first device and the second device and the different device can be in any location in the array of devices and the connections of the described embodiments may be done for one or more other devices in the array of devices. For at least some of the described embodiments, the V_Terz terminals are connected to Vss or Vdd to generate the voltages for V_Terz and also provide balanced currents to each of the V_Terz terminals. For at least some of the embodiments, V_Terz may represent a reduced supply terminal to source current and for at least some of the embodiments, V_Terz may represent a raised ground terminal to sink current and for at least some of the embodiments, V_Terz may represent a reference static voltage and in such embodiments, V_Terz may be connected to either the Vdd or Vss terminals of other devices in the array of devices, and each of the staggered voltage Xj for j=l: (M-l) is designed to be constant voltage, wherein for the embodiments shown in Figures 1-6 the staggered voltages Xj for j=l: (M-l) are all designed to be a same voltage X. For at least some of the embodiments V_Terz may also represent signals which may be static or even dynamic in nature and in such embodiments, V_Terz or other input or output signals of the devices may be connected to input or output terminals of the devices to share information across devices for use amongst devices that have staggered voltages developed across them by the voltage dropping elements along the columns of the devices and some of the staggered voltages Xj for j=l: (M-l), may be designed to be variable voltages.
[0035] For an embodiment, the potentials of each of the V_Terz terminals of each of the devices in the first plurality of the devices at location (i,j) in the array of devices is generated by the array of devices by connecting these V_Terz terminals to the Vdd terminal or the Vs s terminal of different devices in the array of devices that are in the same row i but different column j-i-C(z) or j-C(z), where C(z) for z=l:Zmax, are Zmax positive integers, (where Zmax is also a positive integer greater than or equal to 1).
[0036] More than one of the connections of V_Terz terminals are shown in the embodiments of Figures 2-5. Figures 1-5 show embodiments with simplified values of the various parameters, wherein M=4, Zmax=l, C(l)=l (for z=l), all Xj for j=l:M-l are shown to be the same as a potential X. In Figure 6, M>2, N>2, Zmax=2, C(l) and C(2) are not depicted as the connections for V_Terz are not shown in the Figure 6.
[0037] For at least some embodiments, the majority of devices refers to at least a greater than 50% of the devices and may include all of the devices in the array in some embodiments. For an embodiment, wherein Zmax=l, and only 1 V_Teri terminal is to be connected, and C(l)=l, then each of the voltages Xj may be a substantially same voltage X that may be chosen to be the smaller of (a) the difference between the potential of the V_Ten terminal and Vss terminal or (b) the difference between the potential of the Vdd terminal and the V_Ten terminal.
[0038] For an embodiment, each of the Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) are such that the sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than or substantially same as VDD/2 and less than or substantially same as VDD. For an embodiment when M=2, there is only one Xj voltage that is Xi and that is kept “substantially the same” or “substantially same” as VDD/2. For an embodiment due to non-idealities in the array of devices even though intended voltage of the sum of all voltages Xj is designed to be greater than or substantially same as VDD/2, the sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than 0.25* VDD as a condition. When the described embodiments reference “substantially the same” or “substantially same”, it is understood that practically it is not possible to have exact voltages as desired or designed, and therefore “substantially the same voltage” or “substantially same voltage” of the described embodiments is meant to be a voltage that is desired and designed to be the named voltage (in this above embodiment by way of example VDD/2 or VDD as referenced) by the connections described, in the absence of any practical undesirable manufacturing deviations or temperature differences or any other practical non-ideal effects of implementation including but not limited to I*R drops (either due to current variations in I or due to non-ideal resistance of interconnect) that cause either each of such designed voltages to differ from desired voltage.
[0039] The embodiment of Figure 1 shows only the Vdd, Vss and only one of the many possible extra voltages V_Teri to be generated. For the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the first plurality of devices with extra V_Teri terminal includes all the devices in the array. In at least some embodiments, the first plurality of devices may include several V_Terz terminal potentials that represent one or more of raised Vss voltages or one or more reduced Vdd voltages or one or more reference voltages as may be desired on any device with a smaller step granularity compared to VDD. In some embodiments, also each device includes of input(s) and output(s) to perform intended functions and likely at least have at least one clock source and other signals as part of input(s) and output(s) but such input(s) and output(s) and clock(s) are not shown in the Figure 1-6 for clarity.
[0040] For an embodiment, when N is greater than 2, then for each of the devices in the array, the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j), for i=2:N, j=l:M, is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i-1 ,j), and each device in the entire column is substantially similar, and the potential difference between the Vdd terminal of device at location (N,j) and Vss terminal of device at location (1 ,j), for j=l:M, is N*VDD (* denoting a multiplication operation), then each device has a difference in potential between Vdd terminal and Vss terminal of a desired potential of VDD. Observation of Figure 1 suggests that equal voltage division is achieved for each of the devices by the connections described previously between Vdd and Vss terminals in any column] for a balanced operation wherein in one embodiment all the connections described are made. However, in practice VDD may be slightly different for each device than the desired VDD at least due to manufacturing deviations of each device or at least due to different input vectors causing each device impedance to be slightly different and therefore the voltage drops across each device to be slightly different. The word “substantially same voltage” of the described embodiments is meant to be a voltage that is desired and designed to be the same voltage by the connections described, in the absence of any practical undesirable manufacturing deviations or difference in input vectors or temperature differences or any other practical non-ideal effects of implementation that cause either each of such designed device voltages between Vdd terminal and Vss terminal to differ from the desired VDD voltage, or if all of Xj voltages in an embodiment are designed to be the same the difference in Vss Terminals between devices (i,j+l) to (i,j) to differ from desired substantially same voltage X, (or in staggered 3 dimensional array embodiment from desired voltage W, if all of Wj voltages in an embodiment are designed to be the same). For at least some embodiments, the differences of the potential difference between Vdd terminal and Vss terminal from the desired VDD can be adjusted by adjusting input vectors and/or input clock frequency as among a few exemplary parameters. This is because for at least some embodiments, changing input vectors or input clock frequency changes the impedance of the device and therefore if any non-idealities like manufacturing deviations or other sources of non-idealities were responsible for difference in impedances of the devices to begin with causing such different than VDD drops across them, then such adjustment of impedances of the device through input vectors or clock frequency can compensate for it. At least some of the described embodiments as shown in Figures 1-6 include generating one or more of V_Terz terminal potentials by generating voltage staggered columns that have a smaller step granularity X than VDD. For the embodiments of Figures 1- 6, the Xj voltages are chosen to be a substantially same voltage X as an embodiment, but such voltages Xj can be different in other embodiments. Note: the voltage drop between Vss of each device (i,j) compared to nearby column device (i,j+ 1) for i=l:N and j=l:M-l, is different by X so staggered voltages are generated in the array of devices in the embodiments shown in Figures 1-6.
[0041] For an embodiment, the voltages Xj for j=l:(M-l) are generated by voltage dropping elements (Rj), wherein each of the voltage dropping elements (Rj ) have at least 2 terminals Rxl and Rx2, and wherein each of the voltage dropping elements (Rj) facilitating a potential drop across the Rxl terminal and the Rx2 terminal are implemented by one or more of: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors. [0042] For at least some embodiments, a voltage level shifting buffer may be realized by an active circuit including of one or more of transistors or even a combination of passive devices, such as, diodes or resistors or capacitors. For various embodiments, when the described embodiments reference that a potential of any terminal in an array is “generated” to be higher than potential of any other terminal in the array, or when it is referenced that the voltages Xj for j=l:(M-l) are generated, the generation assumes one of the following or more (a) current being passed through the voltage dropping elements which when multiplied by the “effective” resistance of the voltage dropping element generates those voltages Xj or potential differences in the array or (b) the presence of voltage battery or voltage level shifting buffer, which generates the voltage Xj or potential differences in the array and such generation of Xj voltages between Vss terminals of any devices in same row, between column j to column j+1 can be done by placing voltage dropping elements in only 1 row using M- 1 elements (for example in row 1 with the lowest potentials) or in more than 1 rows by another (M-l) additional voltage dropping elements (for example in row 1 and row N with lowest and highest voltages) of the array of devices and for the remainder of the rows the difference Xj between the Vss terminals of columns gets “generated” primarily by the substantially same voltage drop VDD across the devices Vdd and Vss terminals across the entire array and the balanced voltage drops across the entire array, and so (M-l) or more voltage dropping elements would be needed in the array to generate such potential drops across the entire N*M array of devices. For any embodiments, when referenced to Rj or R2j being implemented as a “switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor”, that may include any Rj or R2j implementation done with an active device that includes a combination of transistors and/or resistors and/or capacitors and/or diodes and is clocked to function as a switched capacitor resistor. For at least some embodiments, especially when the voltage drop across the voltage dropping element Rj or additional voltage dropping elements R2j is large or comparable to a device in the array of devices, the reference to Rj or R2j being implemented as a “switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor” may therefore include a device similar or substantially similar to a device from the array of devices that can be configured as a switched capacitor resistor to function as a voltage dropping element Rj or an additional voltage dropping element R2j. For at least some embodiments, it is understood that Rj or R2j if implement as a trace or routing wire resistance may be very low valued.
[0043] For several embodiments the at least (M-l) voltage dropping elements can be implemented in various different rows of the array of devices in various different ways, to achieve voltage drops across them so that the potential of the Vss terminal of each device at any location (i,j+l) of the array of devices is generated to be higher than the potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (i,j) by a voltage Xj, for i=l:N, j=l:(M-l). When reference is made in some embodiments that “voltages Xj for j=l:(M-l) are generated by voltage dropping elements (Rj)”, it is understood that while at least (M-l) non- zero valued voltage dropping elements are needed to implement M-l non- zero different voltages, if one or more of the (M-l) voltages Xj is zero, then the value of one or more of those (M-l) voltage dropping elements could also be zero or in other words less than (M-l) non-zero voltage dropping elements may be needed. For several embodiments there may be 2*(M-1) voltage dropping elements implemented in 2 different rows in the array of devices.
[0044] For an embodiment, wherein for j=l:M-l, the Rxl terminal of voltage dropping elements Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (1 ,j+l) in the array of devices, and the Rx2 terminal of Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of one of the j devices at j locations in row 1 from (1,1) to (l,j) in the array of devices.
[0045] The described embodiments show that there are very large number of ways, possibly factorial(M-l)=( (M-l)*(M-2)*...2*1) ways, to connect the Rj voltage dropping elements across row 1 to allow a Direct Current (DC) path from each of the Vss terminals of devices at locations (l,j) to Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1), and this is because the device at any location (j+1) in row 1 has j different lower potential nodes to connect to, to find a DC path to Vss at location (1,1). It is to be noted that in various embodiments, all the potentials in the array are referred to the potential of the Vss terminal at location (1,1) that is connected to a lower potential terminal of a power supply with voltage N*VDD+(M-1)*X.
[0046] For an embodiment, wherein for j=l:M-l, the Rxl and Rx2 terminals of the voltage dropping elements Rj are connected to the Vss terminals of the devices at locations (1 ,j+l) and (l,j) in the array of devices.
[0047] In the described embodiments, the series connections of voltage dropping elements is chosen as one possible way to connect, as shown in Figure 2.
[0048] Figure 2 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment. The dashed line convention in the column is shown in the Figure 2 to indicate that there could be more devices in each column than the devices shown. As shown, each device within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 is specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M. For an embodiment, each device includes a Vdd terminal to source current to the device, and a Vss terminal to sink current from the device, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal. For an embodiment, at least a first plurality of the devices in the array of devices further include V_Terz terminals, wherein the V_Terz terminals can be used to source current to the device or to sink current from the device or can be a reference voltage to the device. As shown, in an embodiment, the devices 251, 252, 253 are voltage dropping elements that implement the voltage drop X as in the embodiment shown in this Figure 2, all the Xj are the same as X between the columns of the array of devices and they are disposed between Vss terminals of devices in row 1 of the array.
[0049] Voltage dropping elements 251, 252, 253 are shown in Figure 2 between all the Vss terminals of the devices on the row 1, where in general for any M, such (M-l) voltage dropping elements across row 1 are between Vss terminals of all columns j and j+1 where j=l=M-l. For this embodiment shown in Figure 1, M=4, Zmax=l, C(l)=l (for z=l), all Xj for j=l:M-l are shown to be the same as a potential X. For this embodiment, a sum of all currents conducted through each column j+1 :M of the plurality of devices is conducted through Rj, and therefore, the value of the voltage dropping element Rj =X/(sum(Ij+i:lM) for j=l:M-l where Ij represents the current through the column j, and the notation of function sum() indicates the summation of all elements contained within the parenthesis of the function sum(). In such an embodiment, substantially same voltage difference of X between the Vss Terminals (and also between the Vdd Terminals) of devices (i,j) and (i,j+ 1) is created for j=l:M-l, for all other rows 2:N as well, if a substantially equal voltage division of VDD were to happen throughout the devices in any given column j.
[0050] The generation of the voltage drop Xj between potentials of Vss (or correspondingly Vdd in case of balanced array) terminals of devices (i,j+l) in column j+1 to devices (i,j) in column j can alternatively be achieved in many different ways according to various different embodiments. When the voltage dropping elements are implemented in 1 row, the voltage dropping elements can be disposed to pass through either cumulative current of all higher numbered columns as shown in the embodiment of Figure 2 or pass through current of an individual column (as will be discussed in the embodiment shown in Figure 3), or by possibly one of factorial(M-l) combinations not possible to depict in the embodiments shown in Figures 2-3. In some embodiments, 2 rows comprising M-l voltage dropping elements in row 1 and (M-l) additional voltage dropping elements in row N (or 2* (M-l) total voltage dropping elements) may be used, especially if only 1 power source of voltage N*VDD+(M-1)*X or higher, is used for generating the voltages of the entire array of devices (including the N*VDD+(j-l)*X voltages that are needed for devices in row N across each column in the array of devices), by connecting such 1 power source higher potential terminal to the Vdd terminal of device at location (N,M) and the lower potential terminal to the Vss terminal of the devices at location (1,1). However in other embodiments where the higher potential terminal of M power sources of varying voltages N*VDD+(j-l)*X, are used to provide the Vdd terminal voltages of the devices in column j, for j=l:M in row N, and the lower potential terminal of such M power sources is connected to Vss terminal of (1,1), then such (M-l) voltage dropping elements may be used only in row 1 and no additional voltage dropping elements in row N may be needed.
[0051] For an embodiment, when the voltage dropping elements are implemented in row 1, the different Xj voltages for j=l:(M-l) are chosen to be a substantially same voltage X and the highest supply voltage for row N, N*VDD+(j-l)X in any column j, for j=l:M can be generated individually through many different mechanisms in different embodiments and therefore not shown in the Figures. However, the Figures 4 and 5 show only 1 exemplary embodiment (b) for generating the N*VDD+(j-l)*X voltages for columns j. The three exemplary embodiments include (a) embodiments, where M different power supply sources (for example Voltage Regulator provided power supplies) with voltages N*VDD+(j-l)X, for j=l:M, supply each columns highest power supply voltage connected to Vdd terminal in row N for column j and the lower potential of such M different power supply sources is connected to Vss terminal of device (1,1), or (b) embodiments, where only 1 power supply N*VDD+(M- 1)X at column M is used and a mechanism is devised to derive the individual highest voltages of Vdd Terminal of each column N*VDD+(j-l)*X where j=l:M, from that highest voltage N*VDD+(M-1)X by implementing additional (M-l) voltage dropping elements across row N between all columns ] and j+1 where j=l:M-l, or (c) embodiments, where some intermediate number Y, where Y is between 1 and M, of power supply sources (for example Voltage Regulated provided power supplies) are used to supply the Vdd terminal of Y columns of devices in row N, with desired voltage of N*VDD+(j-l)X for j=l:M for those Y columns, and where each of the remaining voltages N*VDD+(j-l)X for j=l:M that are not directly provided by such Y power sources are generated by placing voltage dropping elements between the terminals that are connected directly to the Y power sources, wherein the lower potential of such Y different power sources is connected to Vss terminal of device (1,1). In the embodiment described in (a) it may be difficult to generate all of the M different staggered voltages N*VDD+(j-l)*X for j=l:M in the entire array from different Voltage Regulated power supplies with a degree of accuracy to generate the desired staggered voltage X between the columns of the array. This is because for the embodiment described in (a) if the desired difference in each of the M Voltage Regulated Power supplies with individual voltages N*VDD+(j-l)*X is only a voltage of X, and if there is a tolerance (+-T%, where T% is usually at least 3% in practice) in the realization of the individual voltages N*VDD+(j-l)*X from Regulated power supplies, then if X is less than or even comparable to T%*(N*VDD+(j-l)*X) then a loss of desired staggered voltages in the array may happen for certain values of T, N, VDD and X. If T%*(N+1)*VDD > VDD/2, then in an embodiment described in (b) above, only 1 power source for the entire N*M array at row N may be used to allow staggered voltages X between columns, depending on values of T%, N, VDD and the accuracy desired on the generation of X.
[0052] For the embodiments shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5, it is shown that the power supplies for the highest voltage for each individual column j with staggered different voltages (N*VDD+(j-l)*X) can be generated in a balanced way by a single Voltage Regulated Power supply (or multiple Voltage Regulated Power Supply in parallel) with two terminals having a potential difference of N*VDD+(M-1)*X for column M, which therefore can supply the entire array which reduces the need for Voltage Regulation Supplies for each individual column. In an embodiment, controlling the voltage dropping elements or the additional voltage dropping elements externally, if such voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements have inputs to control the resistance or voltage across such elements, or choosing appropriate values of voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements, such inaccuracies in staggered voltages (N*VDD+(j-l)*X), if realized from single power supply source of voltage of N*VDD+(M-1)*X or higher, may be minimized. It is also anticipated here in such embodiments that such Voltage Dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements while if controlled can provide accuracy in voltage may not result in low impedance at source points N*VDD+(j-l)*X. Also, it is anticipated that the aggregation of current of the entire array through a single Regulated Power supply Source may result in large I*R drops wherever such current is routed through in such embodiments. Therefore in other embodiments stated in (c) more than 1 (or in general Y) such power supplies at different columns may be used to supply the currents of various columns of the array to not result in a current aggregation at the Single Regulated Power source of N*VDD+(M-1)*X, wherein such Y Regulated Power Sources may not be in contiguous columns but significant number of U columns apart and done when U*X > T%*(N*VDD+(j-l)*X) for various values of U, X, T, N, VDD. [0053] For the embodiments shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5, the voltage of the power supply is N*VDD+(M-1)*X and such a power supply is shown connected to the terminal Vss of device at location (1,1) and terminal Vdd of device at location (N, M). In other embodiments, the voltage of the power supply may be greater than N*VDD+(M-1)*X and it may be connected to the terminal Vss of device at location (1,1) and terminal Vdd of device at location (N, M) through other interposing elements which may perform one or more functions and may or may not drop voltage across the interposing elements.
[0054] The voltage dropping elements 251, 252, 253 Rj (j=l:M-l) wherein M= 4 in Figure 2, facilitate a potential drop X that is implemented by one or more of the following: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors. In some embodiments, unequal and nonideal voltage division of VDD in the devices belonging to the different rows of any column will also lead to a difference in desired drop of X between the Vss (or between the Vdd) terminals of devices at locations (i,j) and (i,j+ 1) but that non-ideality can also be reduced by controlling clock frequency or other inputs of each device and may set a lower limit on the practical choice of X in a device array implementation. In other embodiments, desired voltage Xj may be kept deliberately different from each other for different values of j, and only the sum of certain number of contiguous voltages Xj, as described later, may be desired to be kept constant and equal to the desired potential difference between V_Terz to Vss terminals or V_Terz to Vdd terminals.
[0055] In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the substantially same voltage X (251, 252, 253) is generated by (M-l) voltage dropping elements (Rj ) that are placed successively between the Vss terminals of the each of the devices of the array at locations (1 ,j) and (l,j+l) where j=l: M-l, wherein the voltage dropping elements (Rj ) facilitate a potential drop are implemented by one or more of: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors.
[0056] For at least some embodiments, the connections of the V_Terz terminals are implemented based on the following: For at least the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices, for values of index z from l:Zmax where a potential of terminal V_Terz is desired to be generated by the array of devices and a desired potential difference of terminal V_Terz to terminal Vss in the device with terminal V_Terz , is VDTerz,; a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z)), is substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz), where each of C(z) is a positive integer. Other described embodiments may include “each of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z)), is substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz) for z=l:Zmax, where each of C(z) is a positive integer”, wherein it is to be understood that in other embodiments, only “a majority” instead of “each” of such (M-(C(z)) voltages may meet the above condition. Other described embodiments may include “at least one of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z)), is substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz) for z=l:Zmax, where each of C(z) is a positive integer” where reference is made to “at least one of (M-C(z) voltages” instead of “a majority of (M- C(z)) voltage”
[0057] For the described embodiments, when reference is made to the general condition statement of “for all values of index z from 1 :Zmax where a potential of terminal V_Terz is desired to be generated by the array of devices”, it is to be understood that the remainder of the condition “a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M- C(z)), is substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz)” is “required to be true” for such index values of z, where V_Terz terminals are desired to be “generated” a voltage of from the array of devices by connecting V_Terz to a Vdd or a Vss terminal of another device in array of devices that supplies or sinks the current or provides the reference voltage of the terminal V_Terz, In some embodiments if V_Terz terminal is such that it does not need its voltage to be “generated” by the array of devices or the current to be supplied from or sunk into another device in the array of devices, then for such values of index z out of l:Zmax, the above condition “a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z)), is substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz)” may not be required to be true.
[0058] In the embodiments described, at least one of the described conditions on Xj in array notation implements the conditions for any number of V_Terz terminals in the entire array of devices and are referred to as “general condition statement”. For the described embodiments, sum() notation represents the summation of all elements inside the parenthesis, and in the case there is only one element inside parenthesis, the sum() represents that element, and min() represents the minimum of all elements inside the parenthesis, and in the case if all elements are equal than min represents one of the elements inside the parenthesis. In this embodiment, to clarify the array notation, “(sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z)))” comprises of a vector of (M-C(z)) different voltages for a given value of index z, (sum(Xi:Xc(Z)) , sum(X2:Xc(Z)+i), ....sum(XM-c(Z) :XM-I)) and each of these elements of the vector must be the same as the desired drop min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz) for any given value of index z. For this embodiment, sum(Xi:Xc(Z)) for j=l is the first voltage out of (M-C(z)) voltages, and for example SUIII(XM-C(Z):XM-I) for j=(M-C(z)) is the (M-C(z))th voltage. For an embodiment, where Zmax=2, M=8; the voltages Xj are to be such that, for z=l, C(l)=2, there are (M-C(z)) or (8-2) or 6 voltages that are (Xi+X2),(X2+X3), (X3+X4),(X4+X5), (Xs+Xej Xe+X?) that are supposed to be substantially same as min(VDD-VDTeri,VDTeri); and for z=2, C(2)=3, there are (8-3) or 5 voltages that are (Xi+X2+X3),(X2+X3+X4), (X3+X4+X5),(X4+X5+X6), (X5+X6+X7) that are supposed to be substantially same as min(VDD-VDTer2,VDTer2) for the array of devices. For some embodiments, at least one of the C(z) for z=l:Zmax, is 1.
[0059] For at least some embodiments, for at least a second majority of devices in the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices, for i=l:N and for j=l:M and for values of index z from 1 :Zmax where a potential of terminal V_Terz is desired to be generated by the array of devices, when (VDD-VDTerz) is less than VDTerz, then when (j-C(z)) is greater than or equal to 1, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j-C(z)) and when (j-C(z)) is less than 1, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j-C(z)+M), and when (VDD-VDTerz) is greater than or equal to VDTerz, then when (j+C(z)) is less than or equal to M, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+C(z)) and when (j+C(z)) is greater than M, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j+C(z)-M), where each of C(z) is a positive integer. In the embodiments above, the described connections in array notation implement the connections for any number of V_Terz terminals in the entire array of devices and are referred to as “general connection statement”. In the above described embodiments, it is to be understood that connections as described in the general connection statement are true for only such index values of z from 1 :Zmax, where V_Terz terminals are desired to be “generated” a voltage of from the array of devices by connecting such V_Terz to a Vdd or a Vss terminal of another device in array of devices that supplies or sinks the current or provides the reference voltage of the terminal V_Terz.
[0060] For the embodiment shown in Figure 2, M=4, C(z)=l, Zmax=l and min(VDD- VDTerz, VDTerz) = VDTerz= X where X is the desired voltage of V_Teri, so for this embodiment, the general condition statement “a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z)))„ are substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz) for z=l:Zmax”, reduces to “a majority of M-l voltages (Xj for j=l:M-l), are substantially the same as X” and for this embodiment the majority of M-l voltages includes all of the (M-l) voltages, so in Figure 4 all of the Xj voltages are the same as X. For the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the integer M is chosen to ensure that (M*X-VDD) is designed to be as close to zero voltage as possible for a balanced operation of voltages and current flows in the array of devices. In this embodiment any deviation from that may result in imbalances in the array but those could be resolved by adjusting external parameters. When the described embodiments reference voltage of V_Terz, the reference is to the difference of potential of V_Terz terminal to potential of Vss terminal of the device containing the V_Terz terminal, where potential of Vss terminal is considered as 0 without any loss of generality as all potentials inside any device are all referenced to Vss. In an embodiment, if not possible to ensure (M*X-VDD)=0, then (M*X-VDD) is designed to be in a voltage range of (-X/2, X/2). Brackets or parenthesis notation used here indicates that the end point voltages are included. In all mathematical formulas, designates the operation of multiplication. In another embodiment, the integer M can be chosen to ensure that ((M-1)*X-VDD)=O (or if not possible to design as close to zero as possible, in a voltage range of (-X/2, X/2)) to lead to the choice of a single power supply source for the device at location (N,M) to have a voltage of (N+1)*VDD instead of (N*VDD+(M-1)*X). However, to fully balance the array in such embodiment may be harder and significant external parameter adjustment may be needed.
[0061] Reference in the described embodiment to a “second majority” means that more than 50% of the devices in the first plurality and more than 50% of the connections as described for that embodiment are made, but not all the connections may be made for other reasons. It is anticipated in an embodiment that if all the connections are made, and the second majority of devices in the first plurality therefore means all the devices of the first plurality then that leads to a more balanced operation. It is also anticipated in at least some embodiments the first plurality may be all the devices in the array of devices. In an embodiment when Xj are not all equal for j=l:M-l, to achieve the above connections, the connections need to be made the ensure that the sum of C(z) number of any contiguous Xj voltages across the entire array, is the same as the minimum of the (difference between V_terz terminal and the Vss terminal) or (the difference between Vdd Terminal and V_Terz terminal) to allow the appropriate connections of V_Terz terminal to Vss terminal or Vdd terminal C(z) columns away.
[0062] For the embodiment of Figure 2, since (VDD-VDTerz) is greater than or equal to VDTerz, M=4, C(z)=l, Zmax=l, the following portion of the general connection statement as mentioned previously would be operative “for i=l:N and for j=l:M, when (j+C(z)) is less than or equal to M, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+C(z)) and when (j+C(z)) is greater than M, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j+C(z)-M)” that reduces to “for i=l:N and for j=l:4, when (j+1) is less than or equal to 4, then V_Teri terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+l) and when (j+1) is greater than M, then V_Teri terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j+l-M)” and that is what is shown in the Figure 2, where the V_Teri terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+l) for j=l:3, and for i=l:N and for j=4, V_Teri terminal of device at location (i,4) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,l).
[0063] In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, while it is apparent from the connections shown, the operation of balanced voltages and balanced currents can further be explained. In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, V_Teri can represent a raised ground terminal of the devices, wherein inside any device, if Vdd supplies current Ij from Vdd terminal to Vss terminal and current IJR from the Vdd terminal to the V_Teri terminal then for full balancing of current, the Vdd terminal of each device at location (i,j) receives one current Ij from the device in a row higher and one current IjR from the device in the row higher and in a staggered column, except for the first column, where the IJR current sunk into V_Ten of device (i,4) is fed back to the Vdd of device (i, 1) for all currents to be fully balanced and all desired voltages for V_Teri to be generated by staggered voltages across the columns. For at least some embodiments, the best balancing of current and voltages across the array of devices may be obtainable if all devices are substantially similar though in some embodiments some of the devices may be kept different for various reasons.
[0064] For the embodiment of Figure 2, M devices (4 devices in Figure 2) out of N*M may not be fully symmetric with all the connections and dummy device load balancing may be used in the array if better balancing is desired. It is also to be noted that in other embodiments, all the connections as indicated need not be made for some reasons, but only majority of the connections may be made.
[0065] For an embodiment, as shown in Figure3, for j=l:M-l, the Rxl and Rx2 terminals of the voltage dropping element Rj are connected to the Vss terminals of the devices at locations (1 ,j+l) and (1,1) in the array of devices.
[0066] Figure 3 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment. As previously described, the dashed line convention in the column is shown in the Figure to indicate that there could be more devices in each column than the devices shown. As shown, each device within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 is specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M. For an embodiment, each device includes a Vdd terminal to source current to the device, and a Vss terminal to sink current from the device, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal. For an embodiment, at least the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices further include Zmax number of V_Terz terminals where V_Terz terminals can be used to source current to the device or to sink current from the device or could be a reference voltage to the device. As previously stated, many different embodiments can be used to implement the positioning of the Voltage Dropping Elements in the row 1 (or any other row). For the embodiment shown in Figure 3, Zmax=l, M=4, C(l)=l, Xj are all substantially same as X that is equal to VDTerz and (VDD-VDTerz) is greater than or equal to VDTerz.
[0067] For the embodiment shown in Figure 3, the devices 351, 352, 353 are voltage dropping elements that implement the voltage drop X between Vss terminals of all columns j and column 1 (as opposed to being between columns j-1 and j in embodiment shown in Figure 2) where j=2:M. In this embodiment, only the currents conducted through each individual column j+l:M of the plurality of devices is conducted through Rj for j=l:M-l, and therefore, for the same voltage drop X across the columns j and j+1, the voltage drop across these Rj devices is j*X, and the value of the voltage dropping element Rj =j *X/(Ij+i) for j=l:M-l where Ij represents the current through the column j. As previously described, in this embodiment, ideally the same voltage difference of X between the Vss Terminals (and also between the Vdd Terminals) of devices (i,j) and (i,j+l) is created for i=l:N and j=l:M-l, if an equal voltage division of VDD were to happen throughout the devices in any given column j. The voltage dropping elements 351, 352, 353 Rj (j=l:M-l, M=4) where in Figure 3, M=4, facilitating a potential drop X are implemented by one or more of the following: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors. [0068] For the embodiment of Figure 3, the substantially same voltage X is generated by (M-l) voltage dropping elements (Rj) that are placed between Vss terminals of the devices at locations (1,1) and (l,j+l) where j=l:M-l, and current through each column (j+1) is conducted through Rj , wherein the voltage dropping elements (Rj ) facilitating a potential drop are implemented by one or more of the: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors.
[0069] For the embodiment of Figure 3, the connections of voltage dropping elements is different from Figure 2, but the general condition statement reduces to the same as Figure 2 where “a majority of (M-l) voltages, (Xj for j=l :(M- 1)), are substantially the same as X”, wherein a majority of (M-l) voltages are further chosen to be “each of the (M-l) voltages” in the embodiment of Figure 3, so in Figure 3 all of the Xj voltages are the same as X, and all the connections to generate V_Terz are the same as described for Figure 2, where the V_Teri terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+l) for j=l:3, and for i=l:N and for j=4, V_Teri terminal of device at location (i,4) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,l).
[0070] For an embodiment, the array of devices include additional voltage dropping elements R2j, wherein each of the additional voltage dropping elements R2j comprise an Rxl terminal and an Rx2 terminal, and wherein each of the additional voltage dropping elements (R2j) facilitating a potential drop across the Rxl terminal and the Rx2 terminal are implemented by one or more of: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors.
[0071] For an embodiment, the Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1) is connected to a lower potential of two terminals of a power supply and the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,M) is connected to a higher potential of the two terminals of the power supply, and for j=l:M-l, the Rx2 terminal of the additional voltage dropping element R2j is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,j) in the array of devices, and the Rxl terminal of R2j is connected to the Vdd terminal of one of the (M-j) devices at (M-j) locations in row N from (N,j+ 1) to (N,M) in the array of devices.
[0072] The described embodiments show that there are very large number of ways, possibly factorial(M-l)=( (M-1)*(M-2)*...2*1) ways, to connect the R2j additional voltage dropping elements across row N to allow a Direct Current (DC) path from each of the Vdd terminals of devices at locations (N,j) to Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,M), and this is because the device at any location j in row N has (M-j) different higher potential nodes to connect to, to find a DC path to Vdd at location (N,M). It is to be noted that in various embodiments, the Vdd terminal of device at location (N,M) is connected to a higher potential terminal of a power supply with voltage N*VDD+(M-1)*X.
[0073] For an embodiment, the Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1) is connected to a lower potential of two terminals of a power supply and the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,M) is connected to a higher potential of the two terminals of the power supply; wherein for j=l:M-l the Rxl and Rx2 terminals of the additional voltage dropping element (R2j ) are connected to the Vdd terminals of the devices at locations (N,j+1) and (N,j).
[0074] Figure 4 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment. As previously described, the dashed line convention in the column is shown in the Figure to indicate that there could be more devices in each column than the devices shown. As shown, each device within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 is specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M. For an embodiment, each device including a Vdd terminal to source current to the device, and a Vss terminal to sink current from the device, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal. For an embodiment, at least the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices further include Zmax V_Terz terminal where V_Terz terminal can be used to source current to the device or to sink current from the device or could be a reference voltage to the device. For Figure 4, Zmax=l, M=4, C(l)=l, Xj are all substantially same as X that is equal to VDTerz , and (VDD-VDTerz) is greater than or equal to VDTerz.
[0075] As previously stated in regard to Figure 2, at least 3 different embodiments can be utilized to generate the N*VDD+(j-l)*X voltage of row N, and for the embodiment of Figure 4, generating the N*VDD+(j-l)*X voltages is shown where additional voltage dropping elements R2j are implemented between the Vdd terminals of devices (N,j) and (N,j+1) where j=l:M-l, and generating the N*VDD+(j-l)*X voltages in this embodiment is from a single power supply N*VDD+(M-1)*X or N*VDD+3X as M=4, C(z)=l, all Xj for j=l: (M-l) are the substantially same voltage X, in this embodiment shown in Figure 4. In this embodiment shown in Figure 4, a sum of all currents conducted through each column l:j of the plurality of devices is conducted through R2j and therefore for the same voltage drop X across the individual voltage dropping elements, the value of the additional voltage dropping element R2j =X/(sum(Ii:Ij) for j=l:M-l where Ij represents the current through the column j.
[0076] As in previously described embodiments, ideally the same voltage difference of X between the Vss Terminals (and also between the Vdd Terminals) of devices (i,j) and (i,j+l) is created for i=l:N and j=l:M-l, if an equal voltage division of VDD is realized across the devices in any given column j. The additional voltage dropping elements 451, 452, 453 R2j (j=l:M-l, M=4) wherein, M=4, facilitating a potential drop X are implemented by one or more of the following: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors. In this embodiment, implementation of the drop in the Vss terminals of row 1 is not shown but can be implemented utilizing one of several possible embodiments including but not limited to the embodiments shown in Figure 2 and 3 before, by including voltage dropping elements Rj in row 1 between Vss terminals of devices at locations (l,j) and (l,j+l) for j=l:M-l or between Vss terminals of devices (1 ,j+l) and (1,1) for j=l:M-l or by other embodiments not shown in Figure 2 or 3, wherein for j=l:M-l, the Rxl terminal of voltage dropping element Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (1 ,j+l) in the array of devices, and the Rx2 terminal of Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of one of the j devices at j locations in row 1 from (1,1) to (1 ,j) in the array of devices.
[0077] For at least some embodiments, Figure 4 includes the Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1) being connected to a lower potential of two terminals of a power supply; and the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,M) is connected to a higher potential of the two terminals of the power supply, wherein for j=l:M-l the Rxl and Rx2 terminals of the additional voltage dropping elements (R2j ) are connected to the Vdd terminals of the devices at locations (N,j+1) and (N,j) in the array of devices.
[0078] It is to be understood that in at least some embodiments, in the portion of the general condition statement, “wherein a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z))), is substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz)” or “wherein each of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z))), is substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz)”, or in other statements, wherein reference in the described embodiments is made to the array of voltages or any other voltages to be “substantially the same” or “substantially same”, that “substantially the same” or “substantially same” means that the nominal design of the voltage dropping elements and the devices or the currents through the devices or voltage dropping elements is done such that the nominal values of these (M-C(z)) different voltages across the array, or any other voltages being termed as “substantially the same” or “substantially same” as some other voltage, are designed or desired to be equal. However it is understood that for the described embodiments, when referring to them as “substantially the same” or “substantially same” in the embodiments, any manufacturing tolerances and/or temperature variations and/or non-ideal I*R (current multiplied by undesired resistance or variation of currents from designed ideal value) drops in the array or other undesirable non-idealities including but not limited to noise, can make such desired or designed equality of voltages different than each other and that is why they are referred to as “substantially the same” or “substantially same” and not “exactly the same”.
[0079] For described embodiments, when any two voltages are compared to each other or stated to be ““substantially same” or “substantially the same” or any potential differences are compared to a voltage and being stated as “substantially same” or “substantially the same”, such potential differences or voltages are designed to be nominally the same value as VDD or VDD/2 or VDTerz or (VDD-VDTerz) as the reference may be, but due to all non-idealities referenced above, such potential differences or voltages can differ from the desired or designed voltages by differing amounts and even different percentage deviations. For some embodiments, the percentage deviation may be higher when the voltage being compared to is lower and percentage deviation from the designed value may be higher when the voltage being compared to is higher.
[0080] For some embodiments, therefore when stated “for values of N greater than or equal to 2, for i=2:N and for j=l:M, for at least a first majority of the devices in the array of devices, a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j) is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i-1 ,j) by a substantially same voltage VDD and a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least the first majority of the devices in the array of devices to be a substantially same voltage VDD”, or when stated “wherein programming of the at least two switches and the at least two other switches results in the potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j) in the first majority of devices to be higher than a potential of the Vss terminal of the device in the first majority of devices at location (i-l,j) for i=2:N, j=l:M by a substantially same voltage VDD”, the potential differences between Vss terminals of devices (i,j) and (i-l,j) are designed to be VDD, and the potential difference between Vdd and Vss terminals of at least the first majority are designed to be voltage VDD, but they can be different from VDD by +10% or -10% due to such non-idealities as described prior and in some embodiments different by even greater amounts dependent on how much the effect of non-idealities and how low a value of VDD is.
[0081] For some embodiments, when stated “and wherein a sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than or substantially same as VDD/2;” the sum of all Xj is designed to be “greater than or equal to VDD/2”; wherein for M=2, the sum of all Xj for j=l:M-l (only one element Xi) is designed to be equal to VDD/2, but due to non-idealities the sum of Xj may vary from 0.8* VDD/2 to 1.2* VDD/2 and several embodiments are described that can reduce such variations. For some embodiments, depending on value of M, the sum of all Xj is designed to be “equal to (M-1)*VDD/M”, but due to non-idealities or noise in some embodiments, it may vary by +/- 20% from the designed value and several embodiments are described that can reduce such variations. For some embodiments, therefore the limiting or defining condition on the sum of all Xj for j=l:M-l is kept to be “greater than 0.25*VDD” or “greater than or substantially same as VDD/2”.
[0082] For some embodiments, therefore when stated “wherein a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z))), is substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz)” the majority of (M-(Cz)) voltages may be designed to be equal to min(VDD- VDTerz, VDTerz), but due to non-idealities, the majority of these (M-C(z)) voltages may be between 70% of min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz) and 130% of min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz), depending on how low the values of min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz) is, due to higher effect of non-idealities at smaller voltages, wherein such smaller voltages are further realized in the array based on the difference of voltages of devices with expected equal voltage division of VDD across them. For some embodiments, such large deviations from expected to actual voltages may put a lower limit on realizable “granularity” of the V_Terz terminal voltages to not choose too small of a voltage VDD-VDTerz or VDTerz for terminal voltages, depending further also on the absolute value of VDD and that may limit the choice of large M depending on the value of how low the VDD is. Several other embodiments are described to lower the deviation of such voltages from the designed values.
[0083] It is also to be understood that for at least some embodiments, when referred to as “substantially the same as N*VDD+(M-1)*X” that means the power supply source voltage is to be “designed” to have a “nominal” value of N*VDD+(M-1)*X for optimal drops across the entire array, however practical manufacturing tolerances and practical variations in power supply source that is designed to have such nominal values of N*VDD+(M-1)*X can often cause the power supply voltage to be lower and sometimes higher than that designed nominal voltage just due to variations or other reasons. It is further to be noted that in at least some embodiments, the connection between the Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1) to the lower potential of two terminals of the power supply may not be shorted and may be through
1 or more different voltage dropping elements or even other interposing elements including inductors, resistors or capacitors that are used for power supply filtering circuits or other purposes and the connection between the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N, M) to the higher potential of two terminals of the power supply may also not be shorted but maybe through 1 or more voltage dropping elements or even other interposing elements including inductors, resistors or capacitors that are used for power supply filtering or other purposes. When it is described that potential difference of the power supply is to be kept substantially same as N*VDD+(M-1)*X or “higher”, the reference to word “higher” being if any voltage dropping or other interposing elements are introduced between the lower terminal of the power supply and the terminal (1,1) in some embodiments, or between the terminal of the power supply and the terminal (N, M) in other embodiments, then even the nominal value of power supply needs to be higher than N*VDD+(M-1)*X.
[0084] For the described embodiments, when the connections are described in the entire array of devices by use of words “is connected to” “being connected to” or “connections” whether between Vss terminals to Vdd terminals of different devices or between V_Ter terminals or V_Ter_2 terminals or other terminals of any of the devices to other terminals like Vdd terminals or Vss terminals of any of the other devices, they may not necessarily be “shorted” connections (where a shorted connection between 2 terminals are be defined as a connection via an electrical wire whether realized on an IC or PCB, with intended zero, but practicably negligible resistance, and most of the connections shown in Figures 1-6 qualify as “shorted” connections). Such described connections wherever referenced by “connected to” “is connected to” “being connected to” or “connections”, whether individually between two terminals of any two devices or same device, whether in array notation or not, can be through interposing filtering circuits or other interposing elements, including but not limited to switches with desirably zero but practically finite resistances, between any 2 connected terminals described in the connection, wherein such interposing elements or filtering circuits in between, do not affect the desired functionality of achieving the same or similar voltage of the two terminals that such a described connection between the two terminals intends to achieve.
[0085] For the embodiment of Figure 4, the connections of voltage dropping elements is different from Figure 2-3, but the general condition statement reduces to the same as Figure
2 where “a majority of M-l voltages that are equal to Xj for j=l:M-l, are substantially the same as X”, and wherein a majority of (M-l) voltages are further chosen to be each of the (M- 1) voltages in the embodiment of Figure 4, so in Figure 4 all of the Xj voltages are the same as X, and all the connections to generate V_Terz are the same as described for Figure 2, where the V_Ten terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+ 1) for j=l:3, and for i=l:N and for j=4, V_Teri terminal of device at location (i,4) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,l).
[0086] For an embodiment, the Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1) is connected to a lower potential of two terminals of a power supply and the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,M) is connected to a higher potential of the two terminals of the power supply; wherein for j=l:M-l the Rxl and Rx2 terminals of the additional voltage dropping element (R2j) are connected to the Vdd terminals of the devices at locations (N,M) and (N,j).
[0087] Figure 5 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment. As previously described, the dashed line convention in the column is shown in the Figure to indicate that there could be more devices in each column than the devices shown. As shown, each device within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144 is specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M. For an embodiment, each device including a Vdd terminal to source current to the device, and a Vss terminal to sink current from the device, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal. For an embodiment, at least the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices further including Zmax V_Terz terminal where V_Terz terminal can be used to source current to the device or to sink current from the device or could be a reference voltage to the device. As previously stated, many different embodiments can be used to generate the N*VDD+(j-l)*X voltage of row N. For Figure 5, Zmax=l, M=4, C(l)=l, Xj are all substantially same as X that is equal to VDTerz , and (VDD-VDTerz) is greater than or equal to VDTerz.
[0088] Figure 5 shows an embodiment in which generating the N*VDD+(j-l)*X voltages is shown implemented with additional voltage dropping elements R2j between the Vdd terminals of devices (N,j) and (N,M) where j=l:M-l. For this embodiment, the N*VDD+(j-l)*X voltages are generated from a single power supply N*VDD+(M-1)*X or N*VDD+3X, with M=4, all Xj for j=l: (M-l) are the substantially same voltage X. For an embodiment, only the currents conducted through each individual column j of the plurality of devices is conducted through R2j for j=l:M-l and therefore, for the same voltage drop X across the columns j and j+1, the voltage drop across these R2j devices is (M-j)*X, and the value of the additional voltage dropping element R2j =(M-j)*X/(Ij) for j=l:M-l where Ij represents the current through the column j. As in previously described embodiments, for an embodiment, ideally the same voltage difference of X between the Vss Terminals (and also between the Vdd Terminals) of devices (i,j) and (i,j+l) is created for i=l:N and j=l:M-l if an equal voltage division of VDD is established throughout the devices in any given column j.
[0089] For an embodiment, additional voltage dropping elements 551, 552, 553 R2j (j=l:M-l, M=4) of Figure 5, M=4, that facilitate a potential drop X between each columns are implemented by one or more of the following: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors. For this embodiment, implementation of the drop in the Vss terminals of row 1 is not shown, but can be implemented using several possible embodiments, including but not limited to the embodiments shown in Figure 2 and 3, including voltage dropping elements Rj in row 1 between Vss terminals of devices at locations (l,j) and (l,j+l) for j=l:M-l or between Vss terminals of devices (1 ,j+l) and (1,1) for j=l:M-l or by other embodiments not shown in Figure 2 or 3, wherein for j=l:M-l, the Rxl terminal of voltage dropping element Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (1 ,j+l) in the array of devices, and the Rx2 terminal of Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of one of the j devices at j locations in row 1 from (1,1) to (1 ,j) in the array of devices.
[0090] For the embodiment shown in Figure 5, the Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1) is connected to a lower potential of two terminals of a power supply; and the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,M) is connected to a higher potential of the two terminals of the power supply, wherein for j=l:M-l the Rxl and Rx2 terminals of the additional voltage dropping elements (R2j) are connected to the Vdd terminals of the devices at locations (N,M) and (N,j) in the array of devices.
[0091] For an embodiment, for j=l:M-l, the Rx2 terminal of the additional voltage dropping element R2j is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,j) in the array of devices, and the Rxl terminal of R2j is connected to the Vdd terminal of one of the (M-j) devices at (M-j) locations in row N from (N,j+1) to (N,M) in the array of devices; and the Rxl terminal of voltage dropping element Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (1 ,j+l) in the array of devices, and the Rx2 terminal of Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of one of the j devices at j locations in row 1 from (1,1) to (l,j) in the array of devices.
[0092] In the described embodiment, there are factorial(M-l) ways to connect the additional voltage dropping elements in row N and another factorial (M-l) ways to connect the voltage dropping elements in row 1 resulting in very large number (factorial(M-l))2 of combinations possible to implement the (M-l) voltage dropping elements and (M-l) additional voltage dropping elements both.
[0093] For the embodiment shown in Figure 5, the connections of voltage dropping elements is different from Figure 4, but the general condition statement reduces to the same as Figure 2 where “a majority of M-l voltages that are equal to Xj for j=l:M-l, are substantially the same as X”, and wherein a majority of (M-l) voltages are further chosen to be each of the (M-l) voltages in the embodiment of Figure 5, and all the connections to generate V_Terz are the same as described for Figure 2, where the V_Teri terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+l) for j=l:3, and for i=l:N and for j=4, V_Teri terminal of device at location (i,4) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,l).
[0094] As disclosed in the embodiments shown in Figures 2-5, potential of one V_Teri terminal is to be generated in addition to the potentials of the Vdd terminal and Vss terminal, and the voltages Xj for j=l:(M-l) are the substantially same voltage X which is the same as VDTeri.
[0095] For other embodiments, not shown in Figures 2-5 based on value of VDten, when (still) M=4, C(z)=l, M-l voltages that are equal to Xj for j=l:M-l, are substantially the same as X, but when (VDD-VDTerz) is less than VDTerz, the following portion of the general connection statement becomes operative, “for at least a second majority of devices in the first plurality of devices in the array of devices, for i=l:N, j=l:M, when (j-C(z)) is greater than or equal to 1, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j-C(z)) and when (j-Cz) is less than 1, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j-C(z)+M)”. Therefore for the above embodiments, the above connections are described as following: for a second majority of devices in the first plurality of devices in the array of devices, for i=l:N and for j=2:4, V_Teri terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j - 1) and for i=l:N and for j=l, the V_Ter terminal of the device at location (i, 1) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i, 4).
[0096] These connections above are not shown in any figure 2-5 but can be simply rewired in the same figures where the connections from V_Teri terminals would have been to neighboring devices Vdd terminals per the above array notation.
[0097] For an embodiment, M=6, Zmax=l, C(l)=2 is considered wherein the first plurality of devices includes only 50% of devices in the array of devices in columns 1, 3 and 5 and all the devices in columns 2, 4 and 6 are considered to have no extra V_Terz terminal, (VDD-VDTerz) is greater than or equal to VDTerz , and the second majority of devices in the first plurality is all the devices of that plurality. For this embodiment, reference to “each of a (M-C(z)) voltages that are equal to sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z)), are substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz)” means 4 voltages (X1+X2), (X2+X3), (X3+X4), (X4+X5) are the same as VDTen, and therefore, VDD/(M/(C(1)) or VDD/3. In this embodiment, connections are described based on the following portion of the general connection statement that becomes operative “for at least a second majority of devices in the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices, for i=l:N and for j=l:M, when (j+C(z)) is less than or equal to M, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+C(z)) and when (j+C(z)) is greater than M, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j+C(z)-M)” means that for i=l:N and for j=l and 3, the V_Teri terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+2) and for i=l:N; and for j=5, V_Teri terminal of device at location (i,5) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,l). In this embodiment, (Xi,X2,X3,X4,Xs) can be kept as (VDD/6, VDD/6, VDD/6, VDD/6, VDD/6) mV or (VDD/6-B, VDD/6+B, VDD/6-B, VDD/6+B, VDD/6-B) or (VDD/6+B, VDD/6-B, VDD/6+B, VDD/6-B, VDD/6+B), where B is a voltage less than VDD/6. This embodiment may be less balanced than the embodiment where the first plurality comprised of all of the devices in the array, but a reasonably balanced voltage generation of V_Ten is still possible and goes on to show that an embodiment where the first plurality is neither a majority nor all of devices in the array of devices. In some other embodiments, the first plurality may be a majority of the devices in the array of devices. In some embodiments; nearly all or all the devices in the array of devices may be in the first plurality of devices. In some embodiments, the second majority may be nearly all or all of the devices in the first plurality. [0098] For an embodiment, it is to be noted that N may be equal to 1 , and then only one device may exist in a column and the Vdd terminal to Vss terminal connections are not stacked in a column and the potentials of Vdd terminals of each of the devices of the first plurality of devices are not generated by array terminals but through the (M-l) Rj voltage dropping elements with a single power supply source or through M different power supply sources for each of the M devices left in that embodiment. In such an embodiment the V_Terz voltages can still be generated by the array of devices that reduce to just a row vector, from all the devices in row 1.
[0099] The array of voltages generated as illustrated can be configured in many different connections to realize V_Terz in different mechanisms, which in some cases can be even less balanced than the illustration above or achieved the same balancing by other mechanisms.
[00100] Figure 6 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 111, 112, 113, 114, 121, 122, 123, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 141, 142, 143, 144, that include power supply stacking and staggered voltage distribution, according to another embodiment. Figure 6 shows an embodiment that includes at least 2 additional terminals V_Teri and V_Ter2. Figure 6 further shows voltage dropping elements 651, 652, 653, 654, 655. This embodiment is in contrast to the embodiments of Figures 2-5 wherein only at least one extra terminal voltage V_Ter is generated from the array of devices. Specific connections for connecting the 2 terminal voltages V_Ter and V_Ter_2 is difficult to show figuratively but are described herein.
[00101] For an embodiment, the potential of V_Teri terminal is closer to potential of Vss terminal compared to the potential of the Vdd Terminal and the potential of V_Ter2 terminal is closer to potential of Vdd Terminal compared to the potential of the Vss Terminal. For an embodiment, the potentials of the V_Teri and V_Ter2 terminals are both closer to the potential of Vss Terminal compared to the potential of Vdd Terminal. For an embodiment, the potentials of the V_Teri and V_Ter2 terminals are both closer to potential of Vdd Terminal compared to the potential of Vss terminal.
[00102] For an embodiment, where Zmax=2, and wherein the potential of V_Teri terminal is closer to potential of Vss terminal compared to the potential of the Vdd Terminal and the potential of V_Ter2 terminal is closer to potential of Vdd Terminal compared to the potential of the Vss terminal, consider VDD-VDter2=2*VDteri, then for this embodiment, the general condition statement, if “a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages” is further to be “each of (M- C(z)) voltages”, then “each of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z))), is substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz) for z=l:Zmax”, for z=l, reduces to “each of (M-C(l)) voltages , (sum(Xj:Xj+c(i)-i) for j=l:(M-C(l))), are substantially the same as VDTeri; and for z=2, reduces to “each of (M-C(2)) voltages , (sum(Xj:Xj+c(2)-i) for j=l:(M- C(2))), are substantially the same as 2*VDTen”. In this embodiment, since each of the M- (C(2)) voltages over any running C(2) number of columns are twice the value of each of M- (C(l)) voltages over any running C(l) number of columns, then if the difference in array voltages columns has been implemented with a finer granularity or half the VDTeri, then C(l) is chosen to be 2, C(2) is chosen to be 4, then the 2 conditions reduce to “each of (M-2) voltages, (sum(Xj, Xj+i), for j=l:(M-2)), are substantially the same as VDTeri” and ““each of (M-4) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+3) for j=l:(M-4)), are substantially the same as 2*VDTeri”. By the first condition, it cannot be assumed all Xj to be the same for this embodiment but any running sum of 2 Columns differences in voltages (since C(l)=2) is the same, so any two (Xj,Xj+l) must be (VDTen/2-B, VDTen/2+B) for j=l:M-2.
[00103] For an embodiment, assuming all the devices in the array of devices are the devices of the first plurality, and the second majority of devices comprises of all of the devices in the first plurality, the following connections are made per the operative portion of the general connection statement: for i=l:N and for j=l:M, when (j+2) is less than or equal to M, then V_Teri terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+2) and when (j+2) is greater than M, then V_Ten terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j+2-M); and for i=l:N and for j=l:M, when (j-4) is greater than or equal to 1, then V_Ter2 terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j-4) and when (j-4) is less than 1, then V_Ter2 terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j-4+M).
[00104] For some embodiments, Zmax values of min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz) are evaluated for z=l:Zmax and if the index z for which min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz) is the lowest value, is zmin, then C(zmin) is chosen to be 1, that results in general condition statement “each of (M-l) voltages , (Xj for j=l:(M-l), are substantially the same as min(VDD- VDTerzmin, VDTerzmin)”, wherein “a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages” is chosen to be “each of (M-C(z)) voltages”). For some embodiments, other values of C(z) for other values of index z, except Zmin, may be chosen to be based on the general condition statement for other values of z. For an embodiment, where Zmax=2, wherein the potential of V_Teri terminal is closer to potential of Vss terminal compared to the potential of the Vdd Terminal and the potential of V_Ter2 terminal is closer to potential of Vdd Terminal compared to the potential of the Vss terminal, consider VDD-VDter2=2*VDteri. For this embodiment, the lowest values of min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz) for z=l:Zmax, occurs for index zmin=l, so C(l) is chosen to be 1 and then since (VDD-VDter2)=2*VDTeri, then C(2) is chosen as 2. For this embodiment, by the first condition, “each of (M-l) voltages, (Xj for j=l:(M-l), are substantially the same as VDTeri”, and therefore each of the voltages Xj are the same as X that would be kept as substantially same as VDteri. For this embodiment, the second condition, for C(2)=2 reduces to “each of (M-2) voltages , (sum(Xj, Xj+i) for j=l:(M-2), are substantially the same as VDTer2” and that would further reduce to “each of (M-2) voltages , (2X for j=l:(M-2)), are substantially the same as 2*VDTeri” which would be true for the choice of C(2) as 2.
[00105] For the above embodiment, where C(l)=l and C(2)=2, assuming all the devices in the array of devices are the devices of the first plurality and the second majority of devices comprises of all of the devices in the first plurality, the following connections are made per the operative portion of the general connection statement: for i=l:N and for j=l:M, when (j+1) is less than or equal to M, then V_Teri terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+l) and when (j+1) is greater than M, then V_Teri terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j+ 1-M); and for i=l:N and for j=l:M, when (j-2) is greater than or equal to 1, then V_Ter2 terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j-2) and when (j-2) is less than 1, then V_Ter2 terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j-2+M).
[00106] At least some of the described embodiments make reference to the “desired voltage” of the V_Terz and that voltage of V_Terz terminal is the potential difference of potential of V_Terz terminal from Vss terminal. It is understood that prior to connection of the V_Terz terminals to the terminals of the neighboring devices Vdd or Vss terminals, the potential of the V_Terz terminals is not yet defined and the selection process of whether to connect it to Vdd or Vss terminals of the neighboring devices is based on therefore the “expected” or “desired” or “designed” value of the potential of the V_Terz terminals which is set during the design of the device based on certain goals including the amount of power saving and/or timing and delay constraints and in case of analog circuits based on the desired reference voltage needed. In several embodiments reference is made to the potential or voltage of the V_Terz terminals without using the word “desired” ahead of the potential or voltage of these terminals and in such cases the reference to the V_Terz terminal potentials is the desired designed potential that results after the desired designed connections are already made. [00107] At least some embodiments include 3 or more V_Terz terminals even though not shown in the Figures. The number of combinations for such voltages being closer to Vdd or Vss or the difference between those voltages to Vss or Vdd is large. However, the general condition statement and general connection statement both apply to determine the array desired Xj voltages and the connections of the V_Terz to the array terminals.
[00108] For at least some embodiments, where power savings is the main goal of design, the power consumed in the voltage dropping elements to realize any extra terminal voltages, that in turn may themselves be desirable for power savings in some embodiments, may be considered substantial. For at least some embodiments, power consumed in the voltage dropping elements as a proportion of the total power consumed in the remainder of the array of devices is somewhat proportional to the ratio of the voltage drop in the voltage dropping elements to the voltage drop across the entire column, so power penalty of the voltage dropping elements to achieve any desired functionality or extra terminals is reduced for larger values of N. For an embodiment, Xj/(N* VDD) is designed to be less than a certain number NP1 (for example 3%) for not wasting power more than a certain number (for example 3%) in the voltage dropping elements, if there are M-l optimally designed voltage dropping elements only in that embodiment, and since Xj may all be the same for j=l :M-1 and equal to VDD/M in some other embodiments, therefore that may put a design criteria on the array of devices in some embodiments that have all devices that are substantially similar and all devices that have the same VDD voltage, to be that (VDD/M) I ((N*VDD) is less than NP1, which means that for some embodiments M*N may be kept greater than 1/NP1. For an embodiment, if VDD were to vary by +/-W%, then for some other embodiments, the percentage variation in Xj voltage could be as much as 2W%*VDD/Xj, which is equal to 2W%*VDD/(VDD/M) for some embodiments where Xj are all equal to VDD/M; and therefore in some embodiments, the percentage variation in Xj voltage would be equal to 2W%*M, and if such variation of 2W%*M were to be kept lesser than a desired percentage DSXJ then 2W%*M would be kept lesser than DSXJ which in some embodiments may limit the choice of maximum value of M.
[00109] For an embodiment, each device has a difference in potential between Vdd terminal and Vss terminal of a desired potential of VDD. Observation of Figure 1 suggests that equal voltage division is achieved for each of the devices by the connections described previously between Vdd and Vss terminals in any column] for a balanced operation where in 1 embodiment all the connections described are made. However, for the described embodiments, in practice VDD may be slightly different for each device than the desired VDD at least due to manufacturing deviations of each device or at least due to different input vectors. For at least some embodiments, such differences of the potential difference between Vdd and Vss to the desired VDD can be attempted to be adjusted (compensated) by adjusting input vectors and/or input clock frequency as among a few exemplary parameters. For an embodiment, this is accomplished because changing input vectors or input clock frequency changes the impedance of the device, and therefore, if any non-idealities, such as, manufacturing deviations or other sources of non-idealities responsible for difference in impedances of the devices to begin with causing such different than VDD drops across them, then such adjustment of impedances of the device through input vectors or clock frequency can compensate for the non-idealities.
[00110] For an embodiment, wherein one of more of the devices are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs, wherein changing the external parameters or inputs changes an impedance of the devices and the potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of the one or more devices. For an embodiment, the external parameters or inputs comprise at least a clock frequency of operation of the one or more devices.
[00111] While the Figures 1 - 6 show 2 dimensions, the arrays of devices are not restricted to 2 dimensions and may be extended to a 3rd dimension. The array of devices as described with only row index i and column index j may be considered a special case of a 3- dimensional array for a constant third dimensional index k, and the 3rd dimension with index k therefore not being considered in such 2-dimensional array notation. At least some embodiments include the 3rd dimension for which the similar staggered distribution of Xj voltages in the 2nd column with index j is devised in the 3rd dimension with index k as a staggered distribution of Wk voltages. For an embodiment, each of the Wk voltages are such that the sum of all Wk voltages for k=l: (L- 1) is at least greater than or substantially same as VDD/2 and lesser than VDD. It is to be understood that 3 -dimensional arrays may be harder to realize in practice but may lead to even larger selections of new potentials of the terminal potentials to be generated.
[00112] For some embodiments, the array of devices includes a second staggered voltage distribution by voltage Wk in a 3rd dimension specified by an index k; wherein any location in the array specified as (i, j, k), with row index i ranging all integers from 1 to N, and 1st column index j ranging all integers from 1 to M, and 2nd column index ranging all integers from 1 to L, where L is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, and for values of N greater than or equal to 2, for i=2:N, j=l:M, k=l:L, for at least the first majority of the devices in the array of devices, the Vss terminal of each of the devices in the first majority of the devices at location (i,j,k) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i- l,j,k); and wherein a potential of the Vss terminal of each device at any location (1 ,j+l,k) of the array of devices is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (l,j,k) by a voltage Xj, for j=l:(M-l), for j=l:(M-l),k=l:L; and wherein a potential of the Vss terminal of each device at any location (1 ,j ,k+ 1) of the array of devices is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (l,j,k) by a voltage Wk, for j=l:M,k=l:(L-l).
[00113] For an embodiment, one or more of the devices are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs, wherein changing the external parameters or inputs changes an impedance of the devices and the potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of the one or more devices. For an embodiment, the external parameters or inputs include at least a clock frequency of operation of the one or more devices.
[00114] For an embodiment, the voltage dropping elements are placed both in row 1 and row N of the array of devices. Further, for an embodiment, there are 2 sets of voltage dropping elements Rj and R2j where j=l:M-l, where Rj position is the same as was shown in Figure 2 and R2j positioning in the array is the same as was shown in Figure 4, for the example case of M=4.
[00115] For an embodiment, the voltage dropping elements are placed both in row 1 and row N of the array of devices. Further, for an embodiment, there are 2 sets of voltage dropping elements Rj and R2j where j=l:M-l, where the voltage dropping element Rj position is the same as was shown in Figure 3 and voltage dropping element R2j positioning in the array is the same as shown in Figure 4, for the example case of M=4.
[00116] For an embodiment, the voltage dropping elements are placed both in row 1 and row N in the array of devices. Further, for an embodiment, there are 2 sets of voltage dropping elements Rj and R2j where j=l:M-l, where the voltage dropping element Rj position is the same as was shown in Figure 2 and the voltage dropping element R2j positioning in the array is the same as was shown in Figure 5, for the example case of M=4.
[00117] For an embodiment, the voltage dropping elements are placed both in row 1 and row N in the mechanism and there are 2 sets of voltage dropping elements Rj and R2j where j=l:M-l, where the voltage dropping element Rj positioning is the same as was shown in Figure 3 and voltage drop element R2j positioning in the array is the same as was shown in Figure 5, for the example case of M=4. [00118] Similar as described for the devices in the array, the voltage dropping elements or the additional voltage dropping elements can also have more than 2 terminals and be controllable by external parameters or additional inputs at those additional terminals to those voltage dropping elements other than the 2 terminals in the array shown. For an embodiment, the external parameters or inputs can control the potential drop between the 2 terminals of the voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements in the array, by changing either the impedance or other characteristics of those voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements. For an embodiment, changes of the voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements can be used to make sure the substantially same voltage drop desired across those voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements (X or jX or (M-j)*X), for different values of j, is achieved to a better degree of accuracy, even in presence of either the currents through the voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements being different from desired or the desired values of the voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements being different from desired, in either case due to practical manufacturing tolerances or temperature or voltage variations. For at least some embodiments, the external parameters or the inputs to the devices in the array of devices can be a clock frequency if such voltage dropping elements or additional voltage dropping elements are implemented as a switched capacitor resistor. For at least some embodiments, if the implementation of the voltage dropping elements or the additional voltage dropping elements includes resistors, the resistors can be selected to be different than what an ideal design or calculated value would be to account for the non-ideal drop in voltages due to difference in current in the columns due to manufacturing tolerances in the devices and temperature variations. For an embodiment, if the resistors are programmable by external inputs, then the inputs can be changed so that the value of the resistors is adjusted until the voltage drop across the resistors is as close to provide the desired drop across the resistors.
[00119] For an embodiment, the one or more of the voltage dropping elements (Rj) are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs to the voltage dropping elements, wherein changing the external parameters or inputs changes the potential difference across the terminals of the voltage dropping elements that are connected in the array of devices.
[00120] For an embodiment, the one or more of the voltage dropping elements (Rj) and additional voltage dropping elements (R2j) are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs to the voltage dropping elements (Rj, R2j), wherein changing the external parameters or inputs changes the potential difference across the terminals of the Voltage Drop Elements that are connected in the array of devices. [00121] For at least some embodiments, a reference to “voltage dropping elements” may include the “additional voltage dropping elements” as well.
[00122] Figure 7 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 711, 712, 721, 722 at locations (1,1), (2,1), (1,2), (2,2) that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment. For the embodiment shown in Figure 7, M=2, N=2, Zmax=2; C(l) =1, C(2)=l, all 4 devices 711, 712, 721, 722 are substantially similar devices and the first plurality of devices constitutes the entire array of devices, and V_Ten is also referred to as Vss_R terminal (or raised Vss terminal) to sink current and V_Ter2 is also referred to as Vdd_R (reduced supply terminal) to supply current, each with a desired voltage of VDD/2, and the following portion of the general condition statement “ ..a desired potential difference of terminal V_Terz to terminal Vss in the device with terminal V_Terz , is VDTerz_; wherein a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z)), is substantially the same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz) for z=l:Zmax” implies that voltage X between the array columns is also substantially same as min (VDD-VDTeri,VDDTeri ) and X is also substantially same as min(VDD-VDTer2,VDDTer2 ) (wherein a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages in this embodiment is just 1 voltage, Xi=X by above statement); so X= VDD/2. For the embodiment shown in Figure 7, since both Vdd_R and Vss_R are same voltage, therefore no current can be drawn from Vdd_R to Vss_R and the currents would therefore be drawn from Vdd_R to Vss and Vdd to Vss_R and 3 different current paths per device are depicted in Figure 7.
[00123] In at least some embodiments, the terminals V_Teri and V_Ter2 are intended to be reduced supply and raised sink terminals Vdd_R and Vss_R may be chosen to be VDD/M voltage away from the VDD or VSS voltages, where M>2, to actually source current between Vdd_R and Vss_R and in those embodiments at least a 2xM array would need to be designed and connections depicted for the same and then each device in some of those embodiments may carry only 2 currents. For the embodiment shown in Figure 7, the 2 node voltages of the Vdd terminals of devices 711 and 721 are referred to as VN1 and VN2.
[00124] In the embodiment shown in Figure 7, connections of V_Ten and V_Ter2 for each device are shown by labeling the connections instead of actually drawing physical wires, as 8 crossover connections are hard to depict pictorially in Figure 7. For the embodiment shown in Figure 7, non-idealities of the array of devices are analyzed, wherein for a fully balanced operation of the array of devices if all 4 devices were identical and not merely substantially similar, than the node voltages VN1 and VN2 would be VDD and VDD+X respectively, but since devices cannot be identical, therefore the node voltages VN 1 and VN2 would be different than the desired ideal voltages and as some of the possible embodiments depicted as VDD+/-A and VDD+X+/-A, where A represents deviation from ideal and +/- notation represents that either of + or - operand could apply. For a fully digital circuit which could be another example embodiment depicted in Figure 7, the current between any 2 terminals is the conductance parameter an multiplied by the potential difference between the two terminals, where an in some embodiments is proportional to an*Cn*Fn, where an represents the activity factor of the portion of circuitry whose conductance is depicted by > n, Cn represents the capacitance of the portion of circuitry whose conductance is depicted by > n, Fn represents the frequency of clocking of the portion of the circuitry whose conductance is depicted by Dn. In the embodiment of Figure 7, 3 different currents per device because of the 2 extra terminals are shown in the device resulting in 12 different values of conductance for n=l:12.
[00125] For the embodiment shown in Figure 7, it is first considered in an embodiment if VN1=VDD-A and VN2=VDD+X-A, by applying each current to be conductance multiplied by its potential difference, and by applying Kirchoff’ s current law at node with voltage VN 1 it can be solved that A= VDD*((ai-a3)+(a2-a6)/2+(ai2-aio)/2)/(ai+a3+a2+ai2). In the embodiments where there were to be no extra terminals and only voltage stacking between Vdd and Vss, then such voltage A is simply VDD*(ai-a3)/(ai+a3). If the values of an are randomly distributed in the ranges of +-W%, then it can be shown via mathematical simulations and by further analysis of the above described mathematical equations, that compared to embodiments that have no extra terminals, the embodiments described above with extra terminals for majority of the values of an result in reduction of the undesirable voltage A that any node’s potential difference between their Vdd and Vss terminal, differs from the desired voltage VDD, by the another “negative feedback” due to these additional currents, that reduces the value of A.
[00126] In another embodiment of the Figure 7, if VN1=VDD-A and VN2=VDD+X+A, by applying each current to be conductance multiplied by its potential difference, and by applying Kirchoff’ s current law at node with voltage VN1 it can be solved that A= VDD*((ai-a3)+(a2-a6)/2+(ai2-aio)/2)/(ai+a3+a2+ai2+2*(aio+ae)). So it is noticeable for the above described embodiments that maximum value of A is reduced in the case where the two node voltages VN1 and VN2 as compared to their VSS terminals, are above and below the desired voltage of VDD, as opposed to the maximum value of A when the two voltages VN1 and VN2 are both below or both above the desired voltage VDD. However, in that described embodiment even though the maximum value of A, that represents deviation from the desired voltage VDD across the Vdd and Vss terminal of a device is reduced, the difference in VN1 and VN2 voltage may be actually higher. In various embodiments, different sizes of the array may lead to different design constraints. In the embodiment shown in Figure 7, if the 3 currents inside each of the 711,712,721,722 devices are considered to match to each other and all the 3 currents are considered of similar values, and the mismatch between devices is considered higher than the mismatch within devices, then VN1 would be less than VDD (or VDD-A) if as (and/or aw) is lesser than ai (and/or a2) and VN2 would be greater than VDD (or VDD+A) if a? (and/or an) is greater than as (and/or &) and VN2 would be VDD-A if a? (and/or an) is lesser than as (and/or a&). For this described embodiments, if the control of maximum absolute value of A representing the deviation from the desired drop of VDD is the design goal as opposed to maximum node voltage difference between columns, then devices should be staggered such that devices with lower an values are kept in 2 corners and devices with higher an values are kept in the other 2 corners of the 2x2 array (thereby alternating the lower an with higher an devices). For other embodiments and array sizes higher than the ones shown in the embodiment of Figure 7, different such constraints may be there to optimize the value of A and or optimize the value of difference in voltages from the ideal amount between neighboring columns in same row.
[00127] Figure 8 shows a block diagram of an array of devices 811, 812, 813, 814, 821,822, 823, 824 at locations (1,1), (1,2), (1,M-1), (1,M), (2,1), (2,2), (2,M-1), (2,M) that include power supply stacking, according to an embodiment. In the embodiment shown in Figure 8, the array has dimensions of 2xM, where N=2, Zmax=2, C(l)=l; C(2)=l, and Xj for j= 1: (M-l) to be the same as X, and VDD=M*X. In the embodiment shown in Figure 8, the 2 terminals V_Terz in such an embodiment are referred to as Vdd_R and Vss_R respectively with a desired VDTerz voltages of (VDD-VDD/M) and VDD/M respectively, so X is VDD/M. Each device has two currents one between Vdd and Vss terminal and another one between Vdd_R and Vss_R in this embodiment of Figure 8 as opposed to the 3 currents in each device for the embodiment of Figure 7. In such an embodiment of Figure 8, the conductance coefficients of device at location (1,1) are (ai,a2); at location (2,1) are (33,34); at location (1,2) are (35,36); at location (1,M) are (39, aw) and at location (2,M) are (an, aw). In the embodiment shown in Figure 8, the node voltages are shown as +/-A indicating that the deviation from the ideal voltage can be either positive or negative and different mismatches between the devices in the array result in different values of an and result in different sign and value of A. Then for connections as per the general connection statement, and solving for currents per Kirchoff’s law at the Vdd terminal of the device at location (1,1), it can be shown that A = ((ai-a3)+(ae-aio)*(M-2)/M)*VDD /(ai+a +ae) in one embodiment of mismatch assumptions across the array and A= ((ai-a3)+(ae-aio)*(M-2)/M)*VDD /(ai+a3+ae+2*aio) in another embodiment of mismatch assumptions across the array. For the described embodiments, in either cases it can be shown for various practical values of an the value of A is substantially improved over the embodiment of array of devices that does not have any voltage staggering and does not have the additional V_Terz terminals (where for such a nonstaggered array such A would be simply (ai-a3)*VDD/(ai+a3)), and the extra current feedbacks across columns of the array in the array of devices are one of the causes of such improvement. As in the previously described embodiments of Figure 7, based on the above 2 equations of this embodiment, the optimal placement of the devices with different mismatches in the array may lead to further reduction in the value of A.
[00128] For an embodiment, an array of devices, comprises each device within the array of devices specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M, wherein M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2 and N is a positive integer; and each device including a Vdd terminal and a Vss terminal, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal. For an embodiment, for values of N greater than or equal to 2, for i=2:N and for j=l:M, for at least a first majority of the devices in the array of devices, a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j) is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i-1 ,j) by a substantially same voltage VDD and a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least the first majority of the devices in the array of devices to be a substantially same voltage VDD; wherein a potential of the Vss terminal of each device at any location (1 ,j+l) of the array of devices is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (l,j) by a voltage Xj, for j=l:(M-l); wherein a sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than or substantially same as VDD/2; and wherein VDD is a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device in the array of devices..
[00129] In at least some of the described embodiments, since majority (or in some embodiments all) of the devices are designed to be identical but may not be identical due to process or temperature variations and mismatches and also because of different input vectors, then for optimal performance, a programmable link needs to be placed at each device V_Terz, Vdd and Vss terminals to allow them to be connected to other device terminals in a digitally programmable way to not change the physical location or physical placement of the devices in the array and yet be able to complete desired connections for a given array location in the array of devices (which physical placement of such if done on monolithic device cannot be changed post fabrication, and if done on PCB may also be difficult to change after placing the device on the PCB). For some embodiments, digitally programmable links can be implemented in the form of various switches (that may be implemented as transistors driven by a digital signal or fuses) at each of the V_Terz, Vdd and Vss terminals and then routing may be implemented from the other terminal of the various switches placed at each one of the terminals of devices to one of the terminals of the various switches placed at the each one of the terminals of the other devices in the array of devices where intended connections need to be made. As an example embodiment of Figure 7, if it is intended that due to unintentional device parameter variations, and the design goals, that the device 111 would be better suited to be in the location (2,1), wherein connection to the reminder of the array are understood to be location specific and not device specific, and device 121 would be better suited to be in location (1,1), then enough number of desired switches and routing will need to be designed that all desired connections of devices from those locations are still possible without compromising the functionality of the operations.
[00130] For the described embodiments, it is to be understood that to implement any programmability or flexibility in connections between devices, the “physical placement” of the devices in an array may no longer be correlated with the location (i,j) of the devices in the array, where “location” is referred to as the array location and physical placement while should mimic the location in the array may be different in presence of switches which allow different connections of devices to be placed in different locations in array. In some embodiments, the array location (i,j) of the device is to be such that for at least a first majority of the devices, a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j) to be higher than a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i-1 ,j) by a substantially same voltage VDD for i=2:N and j=l:M, and potential of the Vss terminal of each device at any location (1 ,j+l) of the array of devices is higher than the potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (1 ,j) by a voltage Xj, for j=l:(M-l), where sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than or substantially same as VDD/2; and various other connections are performed in various other embodiments to connect V_Terz to Vss or Vdd terminals of the devices. It is to be understood that for the above-embodiments, the physical placement may be different than array location in presence of the switches and programmability of links and a device in a certain physical placement with the connection of the switches can be placed at a different array location to meet the other conditions for the array locations. [00131] For an embodiment, a Vss terminal of each of the devices in the first majority of the devices at location (i,j), for i=2:N, j=l:M is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i- l,j). In this embodiment it is understood that that is the default connection of the devices where physical placement were to match the array location, but such connection may also be through an interposing element including but not limited to a switch that allows this connection to be switched off and allow a device to connect to other devices if need be to relocate the physical placement of the device to a different array location.
[00132] For an embodiment, a Vss terminal of each of the devices in the first majority of devices is connected to a Vdd terminal of another device in the array of devices. In this embodiment it is understood that the connection may be to a Vdd terminal of a device with just 1 row index below as is the default connection if no switch over of physical placement of device to a different array location were to be done, or it may be through switches to other devices in the same column or other rows with an intention of changing the physical placement of the device to a different array location.
[00133] For the 2 described embodiments, the connections described result in the potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j) in the first majority of devices to be higher than a potential of the Vss terminal of the device in the first majority of devices at location (i-l,j) for i=2:N, j=l:M by a substantially same voltage VDD. For such embodiments, a connection as described above can be through interposing elements that may include switches or filtering circuits as described prior. In various embodiments, the first majority may be more than 50% of the devices in the array of devices or include every device in the entire array of devices.
[00134] For an embodiment, wherein a Vdd terminal of each of a second plurality of devices in the first majority of devices is connected to first terminals of at least two switches and wherein second terminals of the at least two switches are connected to Vss terminals of any other at least two devices in the array of devices, and wherein a Vss terminal of each of a second plurality of devices in the first majority of devices is connected to first terminals of at least two other switches and wherein second terminals of the at least two other switches are connected to Vdd terminals of any other at least two devices in the array of devices.
[00135] In the above embodiment when reference is made to “any other at least two devices” in “the at least two switches are connected to Vss terminals of any other at least two devices in the array of devices”, that may be different two devices than the reference of “any other at least two devices” in “the at least two other switches are connected to Vdd terminals of any other at least two devices in the array of devices”.
[00136] For an embodiment, wherein programming of the at least two switches and the at least two other switches results in the potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j) in the first majority of devices to be higher than a potential of the Vss terminal of the device in the first majority of devices at location (i- 1 ,j) for i=2:N, j=l:M by a substantially same voltage VDD. For the above-described embodiment, the switches are intended to complete the connections in the best way such that the devices are stacked in a column with Vdd of one device connected to Vss of other device with a higher row index in the array locations and that is why an equal voltage division VDD between all devices may be achieved. For an embodiment, the switches may have a digital code to control the programming of the switches as to which switch to turn on and which to turn off, and programming of the digital code may be done outside the array of devices by a host processor or other device to optimize the devices in each location of the array.
[00137] For the above-described embodiment, it may be desirable for each device where switch impedance can be controlled to be low to not allow too much drop across it, to have at least 2 switches attached to each of the Vdd and the Vss terminals to be able to switch placement of a device physically placed elsewhere to a different desired location in the array. In many embodiments, 3 or more switches may be used allowing connecting in the default way where physical placement were to match the array location, and also allowing the device to be switched to at least one array location higher or one array location lower, or in some embodiments 5 or more switches may be used, allowing connecting in the default way where physical placement were to match the array location, and also allowing the device to be switched to at least one array location with a higher row index or one array location with a lower row index and also allowing the device to be switched to at least one array location with a lower column index or one array location with a higher column index. The switches may be driven by digital signals that may be programmed or changed externally through various different mechanisms.
[00138] For an embodiment, at least one of V_Terz terminal of a third plurality of devices in the first plurality of devices is connected to first terminals of at least two switches and wherein each of second terminals of the at least two switches are connected to a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal of any other devices in the array of devices.
[00139] In the above described embodiment, at least 2 switches allow the switching over the connection of the V_Terz terminal to the other locations of devices as well if the terminal connections of Vdd and Vss are switched over to allow relocation of a device physically placed elsewhere to a desired location in the array and in practical implementations the number of switches kept for V_Terz terminals must be at least the same as the number of switches kept for the Vdd or Vss terminal, to be limited largely by the switch size. For some embodiments, the switches may be implemented with fuses. For some embodiments, the switches may be implemented with transistors which are digitally controllable and whose sizes may be high due to low impedance requirement of the switch. For some embodiments, since these nodes of Vdd, Vss or V_Terz with the switches in many embodiments do not represent signal nodes but represent nodes to sink or source current or to be a reference voltage, the large capacitance of large switches and the routing may be acceptable there, and therefore large switch sizes may be kept to minimize I*R drops associated with the switches and also very wide routing may be adopted to reduce I*R drops due to the routing complexity introduced, and the area and cost increase due to that may put some limitations on the number of switches or the amount of flexibility or programmability that is implemented to result in low A for very high current devices.
[00140] For some embodiments, it is to be understood that first majority or the second majority may have some of the same devices in common or have all of the same devices in common and each of the majorities may include nearly all or all of the devices in the array. For some embodiments, it is to be understood that each of the first plurality, the second plurality or third plurality may have some of the same devices or have all of the same devices or be the same or different than any of the first or the second majority, and each of the pluralities may represent a majority of devices in the array or nearly all of the devices in the array or all of the devices in the array.
Use cases of the described embodiments
[00141] Finally, for at least some embodiments, various uses of the embodiments are envisioned, (a) At least some of the embodiments enable the generation of 1 or more extra terminal voltages V_Terz that can be done for the purpose of power consumption reduction in any device by having such extra terminal voltages representing either a lowered supply or raised Vss voltages. For at least some embodiments, the additionally introduced terminal voltages with a lowered supply or raised Vss voltages is used for power supply source or sink for lesser critical timing path circuits or circuits that have lesser accuracy or headroom requirements or wherever usable without compromising functionality and thereby optimized for lower power consumption. In some embodiments, such power reduction is effective in cases where the accuracy or timing requirement of a significant portion of the digital circuitry was not too stringent where such intermediate power source or sink terminals can be used to reduce power consumption of circuits in the devices at the expense of added delays that are tolerable for less critical timing paths. In some embodiments, power reduction is also be very effective when repetitive structure of devices were to be used for higher throughput applications, wherein large number of devices is be implemented in either a monolithic implementation or on PCB hardware implementation, wherein usage of a large number of similar devices for parallel processing or increased throughput makes the balancing, availability and generation of such additional terminals, to save power, in an effective way to each devices without wasting any power on extra devices or components needed to generate such terminal voltages. In some embodiments, such power reduction can be even more effective when devices are more tolerant to occasional errors in the computation operations of such digital logic, wherein such occasional errors may be induced due to the fact that such power sources or sinks may not be as low impedance or as accurate compared to a regulated power supply source (b) In some embodiments, such generation of 1 or more extra terminal voltages can be used for the purpose of providing a reference voltage for even analog circuit operation where such references voltages were necessary, (c) Also, the embodiments described here are not only a low cost and efficient way of generating VDD voltages from a power supply source with a voltage substantially close to (N+1)*VDD, without need for additional VDD Regulated voltage power supplies that would be needed otherwise for each device in each column that would consume costly and often infeasible/inefficient power regulation sources, but also for generating such closely spaced voltages of V_Terz that are even smaller than VDD without the need for additional Regulated Voltage Power supplies that would be otherwise needed for each device in each column for such V_Terz terminal voltages. In some embodiments, it is hard to generate through Regulated Voltage power supplies, small power supply voltages VDD, where VDD is as an example IV or lesser that has to supply especially large currents and any terminal voltages V_Terz that are even lower than VDD (where V_Terz voltage can be for example as small as (25mV-100mV) above Vss or (25-100mv) below Vdd), and even if such Regulated Voltage Power supplies were to be practicable to implement or get, the magnitude of the current needed to source from such Regulated Voltage Power supplies to supply such V_Terz voltages may be high so that I*R (current multiplied by resistance) drops across the PCB traces or device routing may be prohibitively high, limiting the desire to use any terminal voltages V_Terz for power consumption reduction or other reasons. For at least some embodiments, the additional feedback currents introduced between array of devices with staggered voltages may lead to reduced variation in the intermediate device VDD voltages in the array of devices as compared to a non-staggered implementation of multiple devices, reducing the need for frequency adjustment to have accurate VDD voltages, and programmability of devices from a certain placement to a different location in the array may further reduce such intermediate device VDD voltage variations, compared to an implementation of array of devices or multiple processing engines without the staggered voltage distribution. Some embodiments may be used wherever there is a repetitive use of similar multi core processing engines or repetitive use of many cores of similar mixed signal devices.
[00142] Although specific embodiments have been described and illustrated, the embodiments are not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated. The described embodiments are to only be limited by the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed:
1. An array of devices, comprising: each device within the array of devices being specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M, wherein M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2 and N is a positive integer; each device including a Vdd terminal and a Vss terminal, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal; wherein for values of N greater than or equal to 2, for i=2:N and for j=l:M, for at least a first majority of the devices in the array of devices, the Vss terminal of each of the devices in the first majority of the devices at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i- l,j); wherein a potential of the Vss terminal of each device at any location (1 ,j+ 1) of the array of devices is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (l,j) by a voltage Xj, for j=l:(M-l); wherein a sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than 0.25*VDD; and wherein VDD is a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device in the array of devices.
2. The array of devices of claim 1, comprising at least a first plurality of the devices in the array of devices, wherein each device in the first plurality of the devices further includes at least one input terminal and at least one output terminal and Zmax number of V_Terz terminals, wherein z is an index ranging from 1 to Zmax, wherein Zmax is a positive integer.
3. The array of devices of claim 2, wherein at least one of a V_Terz terminal of a first device in the first plurality of the devices is connected to one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal of a second device in the first plurality of the devices, and at least one of a V_Terz terminal of the second device is connected to a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal of at least one of the first device or a different device in the array of devices.
4. The array of devices of claim 2, wherein at least one of a V_Terz terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of a first device in the first plurality of the devices is connected to at least one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of a second device in the first plurality of the devices, and at least one of a V_Terz terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of the second device is connected to at least one of a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal or an input terminal or an output terminal of at least one of the first device or a different device in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 1, wherein voltages Xj for j=l:(M-l) are generated by voltage dropping elements (Rj), wherein each of the voltage dropping elements (Rj ) comprise an Rxl terminal and an Rx2 terminal, and wherein each of the voltage dropping elements (Rj) facilitating a potential drop across the Rxl terminal and the Rx2 terminal are implemented by one or more of: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors. The array of devices of claim 5, wherein for j=l:M-l, the Rxl terminal of voltage dropping element Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (l,j+l) in the array of devices, and the Rx2 terminal of Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of one of the j devices at j locations in row 1 from (1,1) to (l,j) in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 5, wherein for j=l:M-l, the Rxl terminal and Rx2 terminal of the voltage dropping element (Rj) are connected to the Vss terminals of the devices at locations (l,j+l) and (1 ,j) in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 5, wherein for j=l:M-l, the Rxl terminal and Rx2 terminal of the voltage dropping elements Rj are connected to the Vss terminals of the devices at locations (l,j+l) and (1,1) in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 5, comprising additional voltage dropping elements R2j, wherein each of the additional voltage dropping elements R2j comprise an Rxl terminal and an Rx2 terminal, and wherein each of the additional voltage dropping elements (R2j) facilitating a potential drop across the Rxl terminal and the Rx2 terminal are implemented by one or more of: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors. The array of devices of claim 9, wherein the Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1) is connected to a lower potential of two terminals of a power supply and the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,M) is connected to a higher potential of the two terminals of the power supply, wherein for j=l:M-l, the Rx2 terminal of the additional voltage dropping element R2j is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,j) in the array of devices, and an Rxl terminal of the additional voltage dropping element R2j is connected to the Vdd terminal of one of the (M-j) devices at (M-j) locations in row N from (N,j+1) to (N,M) in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 9, wherein the Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1) is connected to a lower potential of two terminals of a power supply and the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,M) is connected to a higher potential of the two terminals of the power supply, wherein for j=l:M-l the Rxl terminal and the Rx2 terminal of the additional voltage dropping element (R2j ) are connected to the Vdd terminals of the devices at locations (N,j+1) and (N,j) in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 9, wherein the Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1) is connected to a lower potential of two terminals of a power supply and the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,M) is connected to a higher potential of the two terminals of the power supply; wherein for j=l:M-l the Rxl terminal and Rx2 terminal of the additional voltage dropping element (R2j) are connected to the Vdd terminals of the devices at locations (N,M) and (N,j) in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 10, wherein for j=l:M-l, the Rxl terminal of voltage dropping element Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (l,j+l) in the array of devices, and the Rx2 terminal of voltage dropping element Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of one of the j devices at j locations in row 1 from (1,1) to (l,j) in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 2, wherein for at least the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices, for values of index z from l:Zmax where a potential of terminal V_Terz is generated by the array of devices and potential difference of terminal V_Terz to terminal Vss in the device with terminal V_Terz is VDTerz,, a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z))), is substantially same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz), where each of C(z) is a positive integer. The array of devices of claim 2, wherein for at least a second majority of devices in the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices, for i=l:N and for j=l:M and for values of index z from l:Zmax where a potential of terminal V_Terz is generated by the array of devices, when (VDD-VDTerz) is less than VDTerz, then when (j-C(z)) is greater than or equal to 1, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j-C(z)) and when (j-C(z)) is less than 1, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j-C(z)+M), and when (VDD-VDTerz) is greater than or equal to VDTerz, then when (j+C(z)) is less than or equal to M, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+C(z)) and when (j+C(z)) is greater than M, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j+C(z)-M), where each of C(z) is a positive integer. The array of devices of claim 1, wherein one of more of the devices are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs, wherein changing the external parameters or inputs changes an impedance of the devices and the potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of the one or more devices. The array of devices of claim 16, wherein the external parameters or inputs comprise at least a clock frequency of operation of the one or more devices. The array of devices of claim 1, wherein the array of devices comprises a second staggered voltage distribution by voltage Wk in a 3rd dimension specified by an index k; wherein any location in the array specified as (i, j, k), with row index i ranging all integers from 1 to N, and 1st column index j ranging all integers from 1 to M, and 2nd column index ranging all integers from 1 to L, where L is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2; wherein for values of N greater than or equal to 2, for i=2:N, j=l:M, k=l:L, for at least the first majority of the devices in the array of devices, the Vss terminal of each of the devices in the first majority of the devices at location (i,j,k) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i-1 ,j ,k); and wherein a potential of the Vss terminal of each device at any location (1 ,j+ 1 ,k) of the array of devices is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (l,j,k) by a voltage Xj, for j=l:(M-l), for j=l:(M-l),k=l:L; and wherein a potential of the Vss terminal of each device at any location (1 ,j ,k+l) of the array of devices is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (l,j,k) by a voltage Wk, for j=l:M,k=l:(L-l). The array of devices of claim 18, wherein one of more of the devices are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs, wherein changing the external parameters or inputs changes an impedance of the devices and the potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of the one or more devices. The array of devices of claim 19, wherein the external parameters or inputs comprise at least a clock frequency of operation of the one or more devices. The array of devices of claim 5, wherein one or more of the voltage dropping elements (Rj) are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs to the voltage dropping elements, wherein changing the external parameters or inputs changes the potential difference across terminals of the one or more voltage dropping elements. The array of devices of claim 9, wherein the one or more of the voltage dropping elements (Rj) and additional voltage dropping elements (R2j) are controllable by one or more external parameters or inputs to the voltage dropping elements (Rj, R2j) wherein changing the one or more external parameters or inputs changes the potential difference across terminals of the voltage dropping elements (Rj, R2j). An array of devices, comprising: each device within the array of devices being specified by a location (i,j) within the array of devices, wherein i is a row index ranging from 1 to N, and j is a column index ranging from 1 to M, wherein M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2 and N is a positive integer; each device including a Vdd terminal and a Vss terminal, wherein the Vdd terminal has a higher potential than the Vss terminal; wherein for values of N greater than or equal to 2, for i=2:N and for j=l:M, for at least a first majority of the devices in the array of devices, a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j) is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i- 1 ,j) by a substantially same voltage VDD and a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least the first majority of the devices in the array of devices to be a substantially same voltage VDD; wherein a potential of the Vss terminal of each device at any location (1 ,j+ 1) of the array of devices is higher than a potential of the Vss terminal for another device at location (l,j) by a voltage Xj, for j=l:(M-l); wherein a sum of all Xj voltages for j=l: (M-l) is greater than or substantially same as VDD/2; and wherein VDD is a potential difference between the Vdd terminal and the Vss terminal of at least one device in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 23, comprising at least a first plurality of the devices in the array of devices, wherein each device in the first plurality of the devices further includes at least one input terminal and at least one output terminal and Zmax number of V_Terz terminals, wherein z is an index ranging from 1 to Zmax, wherein Zmax is a positive integer. The array of devices of claim 23, wherein a Vss terminal of each of the devices in the first majority of the devices at location (i,j), for i=2:N, j=l:M is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i-1 ,j). The array of devices of claim 23, wherein a Vss terminal of each of the devices in the first majority of devices is connected to a Vdd terminal of another device in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 23, wherein a Vdd terminal of each of a second plurality of devices in the first majority of devices is connected to first terminals of at least two switches and wherein second terminals of the at least two switches are connected to Vss terminals of any other at least two devices in the array of devices, and wherein a Vss terminal of each of a second plurality of devices in the first majority of devices is connected to first terminals of at least two other switches and wherein second terminals of the at least two other switches are connected to Vdd terminals of any other at least two devices in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 27, wherein programming of the at least two switches and the at least two other switches results in the potential of the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j) in the first majority of devices to be higher than a potential of the Vss terminal of the device in the first majority of devices at location (i-1 ,j) for i=2:N, j=l:M by a substantially same voltage VDD. The array of devices of claim 24, wherein at least one of V_Terz terminal of a third plurality of devices in the first plurality of devices is connected to first terminals of at least two switches and wherein each of second terminals of the at least two switches are connected to a Vss terminal or a Vdd terminal of any other devices in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 23, wherein voltages Xj for j=l:(M-l) are generated by voltage dropping elements (Rj), wherein each of the voltage dropping elements (Rj ) comprise an Rxl terminal and an Rx2 terminal, and wherein each of the voltage dropping elements (Rj) facilitating a potential drop across the Rxl terminal and the Rx2 terminal are implemented by one or more of: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors. The array of devices of claim 23, wherein for j=l:M-l, the Rxl terminal of voltage dropping element Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (l,j+l) in the array of devices, and the Rx2 terminal of Rj is connected to the Vss terminal of one of the j devices at j locations in row 1 from (1,1) to (l,j) in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 30, comprising additional voltage dropping elements R2j, wherein each of the additional voltage dropping elements R2j comprise an Rxl terminal and an Rx2 terminal, and wherein each of the additional voltage dropping elements (R2j) facilitating a potential drop across the Rxl terminal and the Rx2 terminal are implemented by one or more of: a) a voltage battery, b) a voltage level shifting buffer, c) an apparatus having a function of a resistor, d) an actual resistor, e) a switched capacitor circuit that functionally behaves as a resistor, f) a PCB (printed circuit board) trace resistance, g) a routing wire resistance, h) resistance of one or more transistors or resistors. The array of devices of claim 32, wherein the Vss terminal of the device at location (1,1) is connected to a lower potential of two terminals of a power supply and the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,M) is connected to a higher potential of the two terminals of the power supply, wherein for j=l:M-l, the Rx2 terminal of the additional voltage dropping element R2j is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (N,j) in the array of devices, and an Rxl terminal of the additional voltage dropping element R2j is connected to the Vdd terminal of one of the (M-j) devices at (M-j) locations in row N from (N,j+1) to (N,M) in the array of devices. The array of devices of claim 24, wherein for at least the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices, for values of index z from l:Zmax where a potential of terminal V_Terz is generated by the array of devices and potential difference of terminal V_Terz to terminal Vss in the device with terminal V_Terz is VDTerz,, a majority of (M-C(z)) voltages, (sum(Xj:Xj+c(Z)-i) for j=l:(M-C(z))), is substantially same as min(VDD-VDTerz, VDTerz), where each of C(z) is a positive integer. The array of devices of claim 24, wherein for at least a second majority of devices in the first plurality of the devices in the array of devices, for i=l:N and for j=l:M and for values of index z from l:Zmax where a potential of terminal V_Terz is generated by the array of devices, when (VDD-VDTerz) is less than VDTerz, then when (j-C(z)) is greater than or equal to 1, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j-C(z)) and when (j-C(z)) is less than 1, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j-C(z)+M), and when (VDD-VDTerz) is greater than or equal to VDTerz, then when (j+C(z)) is less than or equal to M, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vss terminal of the device at location (i,j+C(z)) and when (j+C(z)) is greater than M, then V_Terz terminal of the device at location (i,j) is connected to the Vdd terminal of the device at location (i,j+C(z)-M), where each of C(z) is a positive integer.
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US17/676,761 US12021029B2 (en) 2022-02-16 2022-02-21 Systems, methods, and apparatuses for an array of devices
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